Dr. Jeremie Vasseur

Research Interests

My research interests primarily span the micromechanics, rheology and permeability of magmas and their products, with a focus on processes such as viscous sintering, densification, flow and brittle failure, volatile diffusion, ash-gas interaction, shear-induced crystal migration, amongst others. My early work explored the forecasting of volcanic eruptions through laboratory-scale experiments, linking magma deformation and failure to accelerating acoustic emission signals. By combining experiments and modeling, I investigate how microscale processes control magma ascent, degassing, and ultimately eruption dynamics, with a particular interest for highly silicic systems and the associated explosive volcanism.

Vergrößern

Sulfur scrubbing by volcanic ash during explosive eruptions

Volcanic ash and sulfur compounds, particularly sulfur dioxide (SO₂), play a significant role in the Earth's climate system. During explosive eruptions, sulfur dioxide interacts with volcanic ash to form salts, which precipitate on the surface of ash particles. The process is efficient and can result in the uptake of ~50% of sulfur from volcanic plumes, thus jeopardising our volatile budget measurements using gas emission analysis. Here we conduct experiments to quantitatively constrain the interaction of volcanic ash with sulfur to develop more adequate climate impact simulations.

Running project

• Rapid scrubbing of SO2 during explosive volcanic eruptions (DFG, 2025 – 2027)

Wadsworth, F.B., Vasseur, J., Casas, A.S., Delmelle, P., Hess, K.-U., Ayris, P.M., Dingwell, D.B. (2021). A model for the kinetics of high temperature reactions between polydisperse volcanic ash and SO2 gas. American Mineralogist, 106(8), 1319–1332, https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2021-7691

Casas, A.S., Wadsworth, F.B., Ayris, P.M., Delmelle, P., Vasseur, J., Cimarelli, C., Dingwell, D.B. (2019). SO2 scrubbing during percolation through rhyolitic volcanic domes. Geochemica Cosmochemica Acta, 257, 150–162, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.04.013

Vergrößern

Dome lava assembly by pyroclast sintering

Dome lavas can be understood as the sintered/welded byproduct of explosive eruptions. Their textures and physical properties point to formation processes that resemble those observed during sintering, where particulate materials weld into coherent solids. To test this link, we seek to replicate natural textures by sintering synthetic silicate melts with rigid. By bridging field observations with experimental results, this work will constrain both the mechanisms and timescales of dome lava assembly and eruption.

Running project

• Explosive-effusive volcanic eruption transitions caused by pyroclast sintering (NERC, 2023 – 2027)

Foster, A., Wadsworth, F.B., Vasseur, J., Humphreys, M.C.S., Tuffen, H., Dingwell, D.B., Dobson, K.J. (2025). Sintering dynamics of fine-grained rhyolitic obsidian particles from Hrafntinnuhryggur (Krafla, Iceland) with implications for silicic volcanic eruptions. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 467, 108330, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2025.108330

Wadsworth, F.B., Vasseur, J., Llewellin, E.W., Dingwell, D.B. (2022). Hot sintering of melts, glasses and magmas. Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry, 87(1), 801–840, https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2022.87.17

Wadsworth, F.B., Llewellin, E.W., Vasseur, J., Gardner, J.E., Tuffen, H. (2020). Explosive-effusive volcanic eruption transitions caused by sintering. Science Advances, 6(39), eaba7940, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba7940

Publikationsliste