Michelle Plampin is a Research Hydrologist with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.
Michelle investigates various interactions between groundwater and energy production waste products, focusing on the effects of multiphase (gas-water) flow. Specific applications include the potential impacts of geologic carbon sequestration on water quality in shallow aquifers, as well as the long-term hydrogeologic evolution of low-permeability aquitards that may be used for disposal of nuclear waste.
Professional Experience
Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, 2020-Present
Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Energy Resources Science Center, 2019-2020
Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Mission Area, Earth System Processes Division, Water Cycle Branch, 2017-2019
Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Mission Area, National Research Program, 2016-2017
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Colorado School of Mines, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2015-2016
Graduate Research Assistant, Colorado School of Mines, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2011-2015
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Colorado School of Mines, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, 2007-2011
Intern, Washington River Protection Solutions, Interface Management Team, 2010
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, 2015 - (Adviser: Professor Tissa Illangasekare) Thesis title: Fundamental study of multiphase CO2 evolution and attenuati
M.S. Environmental Science and Engineering, 2012
B.S. Engineering, 2011 - Specialty: Environmental, Minor: Public Affairs for Engineers
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
International Association for Mathematical Geosciences
International Society for Porous Media
Honors and Awards
Second Place Student Poster Presentation, 2015 MODFLOW and More Conference
Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation scholar, 2012
Engineer In Training certification, 2011
Cum Laude graduate, 2011
Guy T. McBride Jr. Honors Program graduate, 2011
Tau Beta Pi inductee, 2010
Student Employee of the Year, 2009
Science and Products
Dynamic estimates of geologic CO2 storage resources in the Illinois Basin constrained by reinjectivity of brine extracted for pressure management
Geologic carbon storage (GCS) is likely to be an important part of global efforts to decarbonize the energy industry. Widespread deployment of GCS relies on strategies to maximize CO2 injection rates while minimizing reservoir pressurization that could induce seismicity and/or fluid leakage into groundwater resources. Brine extraction from CO2 storage formations with subsurface reinjection elsewhe
Possible effects of multiphase methane evolution during a glacial cycle on underpressure development in sedimentary basins: An analysis with application to the northeast Michigan Basin
In low-permeability systems, groundwater may be accompanied by separate-phase fluids, and measured pore water pressures may deviate from those expected in steady-state, single-phase systems. These same systems may be of interest for storage of nuclear waste in Deep Geologic Repositories. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between the presence of a separate phase and anomalou
Rapid-response unsaturated zone hydrology: Small-scale data, small-scale theory, big problems
The unsaturated zone (UZ) extends across the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is central to many problems related to land and water resource management. Flow of water through the UZ is typically thought to be slow and diffusive, such that it could attenuate fluxes and dampen variability between atmospheric inputs and underlying aquifer systems. This would reduce water resource vulnerability to cont
Potential Pb+2 mobilization, transport, and sequestration in shallow aquifers impacted by multiphase CO2 leakage: A natural analogue study from the Virgin River Basin in Southwest Utah
Geological carbon sequestration (GCS) is necessary to help meet emissions reduction goals, but groundwater contamination may occur if CO2 and/or brine were to leak out of deep storage formations into the shallow subsurface. For this study, a natural analogue was investigated: in the Virgin River Basin of southwest Utah, water with moderate salinity and high CO2 concentrations is leaking upward int
Computational methodology to analyze the effect of mass transfer rate on attenuation of leaked carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers
Exsolution and re-dissolution of CO2 gas within heterogeneous porous media are investigated using experimental data and mathematical modeling. In a set of bench-scale experiments, water saturated with CO2 under a given pressure is injected into a 2-D water-saturated porous media system, causing CO2 gas to exsolve and migrate upwards. A layer of fine sand mimicking a heterogeneity within a shallow
Compositional analysis of formation water geochemistry and microbiology of commercial and carbon dioxide-rich wells in the southwestern United States
Studies of naturally occurring subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulations can provide useful information for potential CO2 injection projects; however, the microbial communities and formation water geochemistry of most reservoirs are understudied. Formation water and microbial biomass were sampled at four CO2-rich reservoir sites: two within Bravo Dome, a commercial CO2 field in New Mexico; one
Dimensional effects of inter-phase mass transfer on attenuation of structurally trapped gaseous carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers
Based on experimental evidence and using mathematical modeling, inter-phase mass transfer processes of CO2 exsolving from and dissolving into water in heterogeneous porous media are investigated under two fundamentally different flow conditions: in a quasi one dimensional vertical column and in a two-dimensional tank with a lateral background water flow, both at laboratory scale. In both cases, th
Glacially-induced hydromechanical coupling in shale may have caused underpressured water in the eastern Michigan Basin despite the possible presence of gas phase methane
When glacial cycles occur above low-permeability geologic formations, such as the shale and limestone units being considered for nuclear waste disposal in Canada, pressures may differ greatly from normal hydrostatic conditions. Although shale also often has the propensity to generate separate phase fluids like natural gas, it is largely uncertain how the processes that control this behavior might
Multiphase hydromechanical iTOUGH2-EOS7C modeling study of underpressure development in shale during glacial loading cycles at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
A deep geologic repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste has been proposed at the Bruce nuclear site on the eastern flank of the Michigan Basin in southeastern Ontario, Canada. The repository would be placed at a depth of ~680 m, within a ~450 m-thick sequence of geologic media with extremely low porosity and permeability. The water in this section is significantly underp
Multiphase flow and underpressured shale at the Bruce nuclear site, Ontario, Canada
Hydraulic testing has revealed dramatic underpressures in Paleozoic shales and carbonates at the Bruce nuclear site in Ontario. Although evidence from both laboratory and field studies suggests that a small amount of gas-phase methane could be present in the shale, previous studies examining causal linkages between the gas phase and the underpressure have been inconclusive. To better elucidate pro
Non-USGS Publications**
Plampin, M. R., Porter, M. L., Pawar, R. J., & Illangasekare, T. H. (2017). Intermediate-scale experimental study to improve fundamental understanding of attenuation capacity for Leaking CO2 in heterogeneous shallow aquifers. Water Resources Research, 53. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020142
Plampin, M.R., 2015. Fundamental study of multiphase CO₂ evolution and attenuation in shallow aquifers during possible leakage from deep geologic sequestration sites using multi-scale experimental testing and numerical modeling (Ph.D. Dissertation). Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA.
Lassen, R.N., Plampin, M., Sakaki, T., Illangasekare, T.H., Gudbjerg, J., Sonnenborg, T.O., Jensen, K.H., 2015. Effects of geologic heterogeneity on migration of gaseous CO2 using laboratory and modeling investigations. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 43, 213–224. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.10.015
Porter, M.L., Plampin, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T., 2015. CO2 leakage in shallow aquifers: A benchmark modeling study of CO2 gas evolution in heterogeneous porous media. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 39, 51–61. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.04.017
Porter, M.L., Plampin, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T., 2014. CO2 Leakage Into Shallow Aquifers: Modeling CO2 Gas Evolution and Accumulation at Interfaces of Heterogeneity, in: Energy Procedia. pp. 3253–3260. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.352
Plampin, M.R., Porter, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T.H., 2014. Multi-scale Experimentation and Numerical Modeling for Process Understanding of CO2 Attenuation in the shallow subsurface, in: Energy Procedia. pp. 4824–4833. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.513
Plampin, M.R., Lassen, R.N., Sakaki, T., Porter, M.L., Pawar, R.J., Jensen, K.H., Illangasekare, T.H., 2014. Heterogeneity-enhanced gas phase formation in shallow aquifers during leakage of CO2-saturated water from geologic sequestration sites. Water Resources Research 50, 9251–9266. doi:10.1002/2014WR015715
Plampin, M., Illangasekare, T., Sakaki, T., Pawar, R., 2014. Experimental study of gas evolution in heterogeneous shallow subsurface formations during leakage of stored CO2. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 22, 47–62. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.12.020
Sakaki, T., Plampin, M.R., Pawar, R., Komatsu, M., Illangasekare, T.H., 2013. What controls carbon dioxide gas phase evolution in the subsurface? Experimental observations in a 4.5m-long column under different heterogeneity conditions. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 17, 66–77. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.03.025
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Optimization simulations to estimate maximum brine injection rates in the Illinois Basin
We developed a methodology to estimate maximum brine injection rates in subsurface formations across wide geographic areas using inverse modeling-based optimization techniques. We first defined geographic areas where groundwater was too saline to meet the standard for drinking water and where sufficient confining units existed above and below the injection layers. We then assumed concurrent brine
Model of potential multiphase methane evolution in the subsurface of Southern Ontario across a wide range of initial gas contents
Numerical modeling was performed to analyze the impacts of potential multiphase conditions on long-term subsurface pressure evolution in subsurface systems. An example site on the Bruce Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada was selected due to the large amount of available, high-quality data showing significantly underpressured water and the possible presence of gas phase methane. The system was r
Model of groundwater flow, gas migration, and reactive transport in the Virgin River Basin, SW Utah
To better understand the possible risks posed to shallow groundwater resources by geologic carbon sequestration (GCS), a multi-scale numerical modeling approach was invoked using the TOUGHREACT code from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The code solves coupled equations representing conservation of mass and energy on a finite difference grid to simulate multiphase, multicomponent, non-isothe
iTOUGH2-EOS7C model used to analyze multiphase flow and hydromechanical coupling in underpressured shale at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
Using iTOUGH2-EOS7C, a simple 1-D model was developed to represent a site in Ontario, Canada which is being considered
for nuclear waste disposal. The site exhibits substantially underpressured water and potential evidence for gas phase methane
within a thick section of sedimentary rocks. To investigate possible mechanisms for the development of the underpressure in a
multiphase system, hydr
iTOUGH2-EOS7C model used to analyze multiphase flow and underpressured shale at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
Hydraulic testing and long-term monitoring have revealed significant overpressures and dramatic underpressures in Paleozoic shales and carbonates at the Bruce nuclear site on the eastern flank of the Michigan basin near Tiverton, Ontario. Although several lines of evidence from both laboratory and field studies suggest that a small amount of gas phase methane could be present in the shale, previo
Microbiology of the greater Bravo Dome region
Bravo Dome is a commercial natural CO2 field that supplies the gas to depleted oil fields for enhanced oil recovery. In order to understand the distribution of CO2 across the greater Bravo Dome region, including southeastern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, and to assess the impacts of high CO2 concentrations on microbes in the subsurface, 7 samples were collected from sites associated with h
Science and Products
- Publications
Dynamic estimates of geologic CO2 storage resources in the Illinois Basin constrained by reinjectivity of brine extracted for pressure management
Geologic carbon storage (GCS) is likely to be an important part of global efforts to decarbonize the energy industry. Widespread deployment of GCS relies on strategies to maximize CO2 injection rates while minimizing reservoir pressurization that could induce seismicity and/or fluid leakage into groundwater resources. Brine extraction from CO2 storage formations with subsurface reinjection elsewhePossible effects of multiphase methane evolution during a glacial cycle on underpressure development in sedimentary basins: An analysis with application to the northeast Michigan Basin
In low-permeability systems, groundwater may be accompanied by separate-phase fluids, and measured pore water pressures may deviate from those expected in steady-state, single-phase systems. These same systems may be of interest for storage of nuclear waste in Deep Geologic Repositories. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between the presence of a separate phase and anomalouRapid-response unsaturated zone hydrology: Small-scale data, small-scale theory, big problems
The unsaturated zone (UZ) extends across the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is central to many problems related to land and water resource management. Flow of water through the UZ is typically thought to be slow and diffusive, such that it could attenuate fluxes and dampen variability between atmospheric inputs and underlying aquifer systems. This would reduce water resource vulnerability to contPotential Pb+2 mobilization, transport, and sequestration in shallow aquifers impacted by multiphase CO2 leakage: A natural analogue study from the Virgin River Basin in Southwest Utah
Geological carbon sequestration (GCS) is necessary to help meet emissions reduction goals, but groundwater contamination may occur if CO2 and/or brine were to leak out of deep storage formations into the shallow subsurface. For this study, a natural analogue was investigated: in the Virgin River Basin of southwest Utah, water with moderate salinity and high CO2 concentrations is leaking upward intComputational methodology to analyze the effect of mass transfer rate on attenuation of leaked carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers
Exsolution and re-dissolution of CO2 gas within heterogeneous porous media are investigated using experimental data and mathematical modeling. In a set of bench-scale experiments, water saturated with CO2 under a given pressure is injected into a 2-D water-saturated porous media system, causing CO2 gas to exsolve and migrate upwards. A layer of fine sand mimicking a heterogeneity within a shallowCompositional analysis of formation water geochemistry and microbiology of commercial and carbon dioxide-rich wells in the southwestern United States
Studies of naturally occurring subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulations can provide useful information for potential CO2 injection projects; however, the microbial communities and formation water geochemistry of most reservoirs are understudied. Formation water and microbial biomass were sampled at four CO2-rich reservoir sites: two within Bravo Dome, a commercial CO2 field in New Mexico; oneDimensional effects of inter-phase mass transfer on attenuation of structurally trapped gaseous carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers
Based on experimental evidence and using mathematical modeling, inter-phase mass transfer processes of CO2 exsolving from and dissolving into water in heterogeneous porous media are investigated under two fundamentally different flow conditions: in a quasi one dimensional vertical column and in a two-dimensional tank with a lateral background water flow, both at laboratory scale. In both cases, thGlacially-induced hydromechanical coupling in shale may have caused underpressured water in the eastern Michigan Basin despite the possible presence of gas phase methane
When glacial cycles occur above low-permeability geologic formations, such as the shale and limestone units being considered for nuclear waste disposal in Canada, pressures may differ greatly from normal hydrostatic conditions. Although shale also often has the propensity to generate separate phase fluids like natural gas, it is largely uncertain how the processes that control this behavior mightMultiphase hydromechanical iTOUGH2-EOS7C modeling study of underpressure development in shale during glacial loading cycles at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
A deep geologic repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste has been proposed at the Bruce nuclear site on the eastern flank of the Michigan Basin in southeastern Ontario, Canada. The repository would be placed at a depth of ~680 m, within a ~450 m-thick sequence of geologic media with extremely low porosity and permeability. The water in this section is significantly underpMultiphase flow and underpressured shale at the Bruce nuclear site, Ontario, Canada
Hydraulic testing has revealed dramatic underpressures in Paleozoic shales and carbonates at the Bruce nuclear site in Ontario. Although evidence from both laboratory and field studies suggests that a small amount of gas-phase methane could be present in the shale, previous studies examining causal linkages between the gas phase and the underpressure have been inconclusive. To better elucidate proNon-USGS Publications**
Plampin, M. R., Porter, M. L., Pawar, R. J., & Illangasekare, T. H. (2017). Intermediate-scale experimental study to improve fundamental understanding of attenuation capacity for Leaking CO2 in heterogeneous shallow aquifers. Water Resources Research, 53. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020142Plampin, M.R., 2015. Fundamental study of multiphase CO₂ evolution and attenuation in shallow aquifers during possible leakage from deep geologic sequestration sites using multi-scale experimental testing and numerical modeling (Ph.D. Dissertation). Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA.Lassen, R.N., Plampin, M., Sakaki, T., Illangasekare, T.H., Gudbjerg, J., Sonnenborg, T.O., Jensen, K.H., 2015. Effects of geologic heterogeneity on migration of gaseous CO2 using laboratory and modeling investigations. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 43, 213–224. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.10.015Porter, M.L., Plampin, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T., 2015. CO2 leakage in shallow aquifers: A benchmark modeling study of CO2 gas evolution in heterogeneous porous media. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 39, 51–61. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.04.017Porter, M.L., Plampin, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T., 2014. CO2 Leakage Into Shallow Aquifers: Modeling CO2 Gas Evolution and Accumulation at Interfaces of Heterogeneity, in: Energy Procedia. pp. 3253–3260. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.352Plampin, M.R., Porter, M., Pawar, R., Illangasekare, T.H., 2014. Multi-scale Experimentation and Numerical Modeling for Process Understanding of CO2 Attenuation in the shallow subsurface, in: Energy Procedia. pp. 4824–4833. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.513Plampin, M.R., Lassen, R.N., Sakaki, T., Porter, M.L., Pawar, R.J., Jensen, K.H., Illangasekare, T.H., 2014. Heterogeneity-enhanced gas phase formation in shallow aquifers during leakage of CO2-saturated water from geologic sequestration sites. Water Resources Research 50, 9251–9266. doi:10.1002/2014WR015715Plampin, M., Illangasekare, T., Sakaki, T., Pawar, R., 2014. Experimental study of gas evolution in heterogeneous shallow subsurface formations during leakage of stored CO2. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 22, 47–62. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.12.020Sakaki, T., Plampin, M.R., Pawar, R., Komatsu, M., Illangasekare, T.H., 2013. What controls carbon dioxide gas phase evolution in the subsurface? Experimental observations in a 4.5m-long column under different heterogeneity conditions. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 17, 66–77. doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.03.025**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
- Data
Optimization simulations to estimate maximum brine injection rates in the Illinois Basin
We developed a methodology to estimate maximum brine injection rates in subsurface formations across wide geographic areas using inverse modeling-based optimization techniques. We first defined geographic areas where groundwater was too saline to meet the standard for drinking water and where sufficient confining units existed above and below the injection layers. We then assumed concurrent brineModel of potential multiphase methane evolution in the subsurface of Southern Ontario across a wide range of initial gas contents
Numerical modeling was performed to analyze the impacts of potential multiphase conditions on long-term subsurface pressure evolution in subsurface systems. An example site on the Bruce Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada was selected due to the large amount of available, high-quality data showing significantly underpressured water and the possible presence of gas phase methane. The system was rModel of groundwater flow, gas migration, and reactive transport in the Virgin River Basin, SW Utah
To better understand the possible risks posed to shallow groundwater resources by geologic carbon sequestration (GCS), a multi-scale numerical modeling approach was invoked using the TOUGHREACT code from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The code solves coupled equations representing conservation of mass and energy on a finite difference grid to simulate multiphase, multicomponent, non-isotheiTOUGH2-EOS7C model used to analyze multiphase flow and hydromechanical coupling in underpressured shale at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
Using iTOUGH2-EOS7C, a simple 1-D model was developed to represent a site in Ontario, Canada which is being considered for nuclear waste disposal. The site exhibits substantially underpressured water and potential evidence for gas phase methane within a thick section of sedimentary rocks. To investigate possible mechanisms for the development of the underpressure in a multiphase system, hydriTOUGH2-EOS7C model used to analyze multiphase flow and underpressured shale at the Bruce Nuclear Site, Ontario, Canada
Hydraulic testing and long-term monitoring have revealed significant overpressures and dramatic underpressures in Paleozoic shales and carbonates at the Bruce nuclear site on the eastern flank of the Michigan basin near Tiverton, Ontario. Although several lines of evidence from both laboratory and field studies suggest that a small amount of gas phase methane could be present in the shale, previoMicrobiology of the greater Bravo Dome region
Bravo Dome is a commercial natural CO2 field that supplies the gas to depleted oil fields for enhanced oil recovery. In order to understand the distribution of CO2 across the greater Bravo Dome region, including southeastern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, and to assess the impacts of high CO2 concentrations on microbes in the subsurface, 7 samples were collected from sites associated with h
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government