Erick R Burns
Erick is a Research Hydrologist at the USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center. He specializes in the development of methods and tools for analysis and simulation of groundwater and heat flow in the subsurface, particularly in the volcanogenic terranes of California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Biography
Erick Burns is a Research Geologist with the USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center. His research experience is varied, including groundwater flow and transport, geothermal energy, geostatistical methods and stochastic analysis, process thermodynamics, agricultural water pollution, and seawater intrusion. Additionally, Erick has taught hydrology and geostatistics courses.
Education:
- Ph.D. Bioresource Engineering, Oregon State University, 2004
- M.S. Mathematics, Oregon State University, 2004
- M.S. Hydrologic Sciences (Groundwater), University of Nevada - Reno, 1996
- B.S. Geology (extended major: Geophysics), Northern Arizona University, 1994
Non-USGS Partners:
- U.S. Department of Energy - Geothermal Technologies Office
Science and Products
Geothermal
Mission: to characterize and assess geothermal energy resources in the United States and to work with the Department of Energy and other partners to advance the technologies applied to discover, characterize, and utilize those resources.
Hydrogeologic and Geothermal Conditions of the Northwest Volcanic Aquifers
Although sparsely populated, this area in southeastern Oregon, northeastern California, northwestern Nevada, and southeastern Idaho has high geothermal heat flow that may be used to generate large amounts of electricity.
Columbia Plateau Groundwater Availability Study
The Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS) covers about 44,000 square miles of eastern Oregon and Washington and western Idaho. The primary aquifers are basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group and overlying basin-fill sediments. Groundwater availability issues in the basin include: 1) widespread water-level declines caused by pumping, 2) reduction in base flow to rivers and...
Can geologic factors be predictive for distinguishing between productive and non-productive geothermal wells?
Geologic data are examined to evaluate whether certain geologic characteristics occur in higher abundance or higher magnitude along production geothermal wells relative to non-productive wells. We perform 3D geologic mapping, 3D stress modeling, and fault-slip modeling to estimate fourteen different geologic factors that are hypothesized to...
Siler, Drew L.; Burns, Erick; James E Faulds The influence of episodic shallow magma degassing on heat and chemical transport in volcanic hydrothermal systems
Springs at La Soufrière of Guadeloupe have been monitored for nearly four decades since the phreatic eruption and associated seismic activity in 1976. We conceptualize degassing vapor/gas mixtures as square‐wave sources of chloride and heat and apply a new semianalytic solution to demonstrate that chloride and heat pulses with the same timing and...
Chen, Kewei; Zhan, Hongbin; Burns, Erick; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Agrinier, Pierre Geothermal implications of a refined composition-age geologic map for the volcanic terrains of southeast Oregon, northeast California, and southwest Idaho, USA
Sufficient temperatures to generate steam likely exist under most of the dominantly volcanic terrains of southeast Oregon, northeast California, and southeast Idaho, USA, but finding sufficient permeability to allow efficient advective heat exchange is an outstanding challenge. A new thematic interpretation of existing state-level geologic maps...
Burns, Erick; Gannett, Marshall W.; Sherrod, David R.; Keith, Mackenzie K.; Curtis, Jennifer A.; Bartolino, James R.; Engott, John A.; Scandella, Benjamin P.; Stern, Michelle A.; Flint, Alan L. Thermal effect of climate change on groundwater-fed ecosystems
Groundwater temperature changes will lag surface temperature changes from a changing climate. Steady state solutions of the heat-transport equations are used to identify key processes that control the long-term thermal response of springs and other groundwater discharge to climate change, in particular changes in (1) groundwater recharge rate and...
Burns, Erick; Zhu, Yonghui; Zhan, Hongbin; Manga, Michael; Williams, Colin F.; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Dunham, Jason B.
Simulation of groundwater storage changes in the eastern Pasco Basin, Washington
The Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group and younger sedimentary deposits of lacustrine, fluvial, eolian, and cataclysmic-flood origins compose the aquifer system of the Pasco Basin in eastern Washington. Irrigation return flow and canal leakage from the Columbia Basin Project have caused groundwater levels to rise substantially in some areas,...
Heywood, Charles E.; Kahle, Sue C.; Olsen, Theresa D.; Patterson, James D.; Burns, Erick Are the Columbia River Basalts, Columbia Plateau, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, USA, a viable geothermal target? A preliminary analysis
The successful development of a geothermal electric power generation facility relies on (1) the identification of sufficiently high temperatures at an economically viable depth and (2) the existence of or potential to create and maintain a permeable zone (permeability >10-14 m2) of sufficient size to allow efficient long-term extraction of heat...
Burns, Erick R.; Williams, Colin F.; Tolan, Terry; Kaven, Joern Ole Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
A one-dimensional (1-D) analytic solution is developed for heat transport through an aquifer system where the vertical temperature profile in the aquifer is nearly uniform. The general anisotropic form of the viscous heat generation term is developed for use in groundwater flow simulations. The 1-D solution is extended to more complex geometries...
Burns, Erick R.; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Manga, Michael; Williams, Colin F.
Groundwater availability of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
The Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS) covers about 44,000 square miles of southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and western Idaho. The area supports a $6-billion per year agricultural industry, leading the Nation in production of apples, hops, and eight other commodities. Groundwater pumpage and surface-water diversions...
Vaccaro, J.J.; Kahle, S.C.; Ely, D.M.; Burns, E.R.; Snyder, D.T.; Haynes, J.V.; Olsen, T.D.; Welch, W.B.; Morgan, D.S. Understanding heat and groundwater flow through continental flood basalt provinces: insights gained from alternative models of permeability/depth relationships for the Columbia Plateau, USA
Heat-flow mapping of the western USA has identified an apparent low-heat-flow anomaly coincident with the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, a thick sequence of basalt aquifers within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). A heat and mass transport model (SUTRA) was used to evaluate the potential impact of groundwater flow on heat flow...
Burns, Erick R.; Williams, Colin F.; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Voss, Clifford I.; Spane, Frank A.; DeAngelo, Jacob
Simulation of groundwater flow and the interaction of groundwater and surface water in the Willamette Basin and Central Willamette subbasin, Oregon
Full appropriation of tributary streamflow during summer, a growing population, and agricultural needs are increasing the demand for groundwater in the Willamette Basin. Greater groundwater use could diminish streamflow and create seasonal and long-term declines in groundwater levels. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Oregon Water...
Herrera, Nora B.; Burns, Erick R.; Conlon, Terrence D.
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow in the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
A three-dimensional numerical model of groundwater flow was constructed for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS), Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, to evaluate and test the conceptual model of the system and to evaluate groundwater availability. The model described in this report can be used as a tool by water-resource managers and...
Ely, D. Matthew; Burns, Erick R.; Morgan, David S.; Vaccaro, John J.
Groundwater status and trends for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
Well information and groundwater-level measurements for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, were compiled from data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and seven other organizations. From the full set of about 60,000 wells and 450,000 water-level measurements a subset of 761 wells within the aquifers...
Burns, Erick R.; Snyder, Daniel T.; Haynes, Jonathan V.; Waibel, Michael S.
Study Explores Groundwater and Geothermal Energy in Drought-Stricken Eastern Oregon and Neighboring States
A new study now underway by the U.S. Geological Survey is exploring the groundwater resources and geothermal energy potential in drought-stricken areas of eastern Oregon and nearby parts of California, Idaho and Nevada.