Virgil Pasquier 

About me

Bonjour !  👋

I was born and raised in Normandie, France where I did my undergraduate degree at the INTECHMER. Then, I moved to Brest (Britany, France) to do my master's and my PhD at the IUEM where I have been initiated into the field of Geology, Isotope Geochemistry and Geobiology. From 2018 to 2021, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Since December 2021, I have been a junior lecturer at the University of Lausanne.

Most of my research focuses on understanding the chemical and isotopic composition of sedimentary pyrite preserved in the Earth’s rock record. Why pyrite? Because it allows us to study the interaction between microbes and the depositional environment and provide valuable insights into important biogeochemical cycles (Sulfur, Carbon, Iron and Oxygen). Microbes are responsible for generating the initial isotopic fractionation whereas the local depositional environments strongly control the preserved isotopic composition of pyrite in the rock record. To deconvolve those signals, I combine bulk and microscale geochemical observations with numerical models in modern environments with the aim of providing new insights into long-standing geochemical questions.