Dr Ben Williamson

Lecturer in Applied Mineralogy

Camborne School of Mines
School of Geography, Archaeology & Earth Resources
University of Exeter - Cornwall Campus
Penryn
Cornwall  TR10 9EZ
United Kingdom
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Research Expertise

Ben Williamson has been involved in two areas of volcanic health hazard research:

1. Developing novel scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methodologies for assessing mineralogy, grain size and elemental compositions of respirable airborne particulate.
2. Theoretical studies into the toxicity of respirable silica particulate; mainly the role of piezoelectric effects.

Ben has been involved in studies carried out by Claire Horwell on respirable particulate from dome collapse eruptions on Montserrat. He has written a theoretical paper on the role of piezoelectric effects in the toxicity of silicas and is pioneering methodologies for assessing the size, shape, elemental and mineralogical properties of airborne particulate microsamples collected on filters using air pump apparatus.

Relevant Publications

Le Blond, J.S., Williamson, B.J., Horwell, C.J., Monro, A.K., Kirk, C.A. and Oppenheimer, C. 2008. Production of potentially hazardous respirable silica airborne particulate from the burning of sugarcane. Atmospheric Environment. 44, 5558-5568.

Horwell, C.J., Sparks, R.S.J., Brewer, T.S., Llewellin, E.W., and Williamson, B.J. 2003. The characterisation of respirable volcanic ash from the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, with implications for health hazard. Bull. Volcanol., 65, 346-362.

Williamson, B.J., Pastiroff, S., and Cressey, G., 2001. Piezoelectric properties of quartz and cristobalite airborne particulates as a cause of adverse health effects. Atmos. Env., 35, 3539-3542