Steven Ingebritsen, Ph.D.
Research topics include magmatic-hydrothermal systems, crustal permeability, and land subsidence
Served a 10-year term as a USGS Branch Chief (1998-2008), managing a $19M/year research program with about 150 full- and part-time employees and contractors. Fellow of both the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America (GSA); recipient of the O.E. Meinzer Award from GSA and the John Hem Award from the National Ground Water Association; and a GSA Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer. Author of the textbook Groundwater in Geologic Processes (Cambridge University Press, 1998, 2nd ed. 2006) and co-Editor of Crustal Permeability (Wiley/AGU, 2016). Past co-Editor-in-Chief of Geothermics (1996-1998) and Geofluids (2006-2010) and past Chair of GSA’s Hydrogeology Division. Member U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
DATA AND MODELS
Hydrothermal monitoring data from the Cascade Range: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/cvo/monitoring_hydrothermal.html
Hydrothermal discharge at selected sites in the western US (Ingebritsen and others, JVGR, 2001): https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/water/hydrothermal/hydrothermal_abstract.pdf
Geyser-frequency data from Upper Geyser Basin (Rojstaczer and others, 2003): https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/file_mngr/file-191/geyserdata.pdf
HYDROTHERM model: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/software/hydrotherm/
Professional Experience
Member of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since 1980
Education and Certifications
MS and PhD Hydrogeology, Stanford University
BA Geology, Carleton College
Honors and Awards
Fellow, American Geophysical Union
Fellow, Geological Society of America
O.E. Meinzer Award, Geological Society of America
John Hem Award, National Ground Water Association
Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, Geological Society of America
Science and Products
Potentially exploitable supercritical geothermal resources in the ductile crust
Special issue “The phreatic eruption of Mt. Ontake volcano in 2014”
Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
The Lassen hydrothermal system
Crustal permeability
An environmental survey of Serpentine Hot Springs: Geology, hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology
Hydrothermal response to a volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm, Lassen, California
Developing a new, passive diffusion sampling array to detect helium anomalies associated with volcanic unrest
DigitalCrust – a 4D data system of material properties for transforming research on crustal fluid flow
Crustal permeability: Introduction to the special issue
Coastal subsidence and relative sea level rise
Earthquakes: Hydrogeochemical precursors
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 41
Potentially exploitable supercritical geothermal resources in the ductile crust
The hypothesis that the brittle–ductile transition (BDT) drastically reduces permeability implies that potentially exploitable geothermal resources (permeability >10−16 m2) consisting of supercritical water could occur only in rocks with unusually high transition temperatures such as basalt. However, tensile fracturing is possible even in ductile rocks, and some permeability–depth relations proposAuthorsNoriaki Watanabe, Tatsuya Numakura, Kiyotoshi Sakaguchi, Hanae Saishu, Atsushi Okamoto, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Noriyoshi TsuchiyaSpecial issue “The phreatic eruption of Mt. Ontake volcano in 2014”
Mt. Ontake volcano erupted at 11:52 on September 27, 2014, claiming the lives of at least 58 hikers. This eruption was the worst volcanic disaster in Japan since the 1926 phreatic eruption of Mt. Tokachidake claimed 144 lives (Table 1). The timing of the eruption contributed greatly to the heavy death toll: near midday, when many hikers were near the summit, and during a weekend of clear weather cAuthorsKoshun Yamaoka, Nobuo Geshi, Tasheki Hashimoto, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Teruki OikawaEvaluating 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 by solving the equation for piece-wise linear or uniAuthorsErick R. Burns, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Michael Manga, Colin F. WilliamsThe Lassen hydrothermal system
The active Lassen hydrothermal system includes a central vapor-dominated zone or zones beneath the Lassen highlands underlain by ~240 °C high-chloride waters that discharge at lower elevations. It is the best-exposed and largest hydrothermal system in the Cascade Range, discharging 41 ± 10 kg/s of steam (~115 MW) and 23 ± 2 kg/s of high-chloride waters (~27 MW). The Lassen system accounts for a fuAuthorsSteven E. Ingebritsen, Deborah Bergfeld, Laura Clor, William C. EvansCrustal permeability
Permeability is the primary control on fluid flow in the Earth’s crust and is key to a surprisingly wide range of geological processes, because it controls the advection of heat and solutes and the generation of anomalous pore pressures. The practical importance of permeability – and the potential for large, dynamic changes in permeability – is highlighted by ongoing issues associated with hydrauAn environmental survey of Serpentine Hot Springs: Geology, hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology
Serpentine Hot Springs is the most visited site in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The hot springs have traditionally been used by the Native people of the Seward Peninsula for religious, medicinal and spiritual purposes and continue to be used in many of the same ways by Native people today. The hot springs are also popular with non-Native users from Nome and other communities, recreatiAuthorsD. Kirk Nordstrom, Linda Hasselbach, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Dana Skorupa, R. Blaine McCleskey, Timothy R. McDermottHydrothermal response to a volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm, Lassen, California
The increasing capability of seismic, geodetic, and hydrothermal observation networks allows recognition of volcanic unrest that could previously have gone undetected, creating an imperative to diagnose and interpret unrest episodes. A November 2014 earthquake swarm near Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, which included the largest earthquake in the area in more than 60 years, was accompanAuthorsSteven E. Ingebritsen, David R. Shelly, Paul A. Hsieh, Laura Clor, P.H. Seward, William C. EvansDeveloping a new, passive diffusion sampling array to detect helium anomalies associated with volcanic unrest
Helium (He) concentration and 3 He/ 4 He anomalies in soil gas and spring water are potentially powerful tools for investigating hydrothermal circulation associated with volca- nism and could perhaps serve as part of a hazards warning system. However, in operational practice, He and other gases are often sampled only after volcanic unrest is detected by other means. A new passive diffusion samplerAuthorsBrittany E Dame, D Kip Solomon, William C. Evans, Steven E. IngebritsenDigitalCrust – a 4D data system of material properties for transforming research on crustal fluid flow
Fluid circulation in the Earth's crust plays an essential role in surface, near surface, and deep crustal processes. Flow pathways are driven by hydraulic gradients but controlled by material permeability, which varies over many orders of magnitude and changes over time. Although millions of measurements of crustal properties have been made, including geophysical imaging and borehole tests, this vAuthorsYin Fan, Steve Richard, R. Sky Bristol, Shanan Peters, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Nils Moosdorf, Aaron I. Packman, Tom Gleeson, Ilya Zazlavsky, Scott Peckham, Larry Murdoch, Michael Cardiff, David Tarboton, Norm Jones, Richard Hooper, Jennifer Arrigo, David Gochis, John OlsonCrustal permeability: Introduction to the special issue
The topic of crustal permeability is of broad interest in light of the controlling effect of permeability on diverse geologic processes and also timely in light of the practical challenges associated with emerging technologies such as hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas production (‘fracking’), enhanced geothermal systems, and geologic carbon sequestration. This special issue of Geofluids is alsoAuthorsSteven E. Ingebritsen, Tom GleesonCoastal subsidence and relative sea level rise
Subsurface fluid-pressure declines caused by pumping of groundwater or hydrocarbons can lead to aquifer-system compaction and consequent land subsidence. This subsidence can be rapid, as much as 30 cm per year in some instances, and large, totaling more than 13 m in extreme examples. Thus anthropogenic subsidence may be the dominant contributor to relative sea-level rise in coastal environments whAuthorsSteven E. Ingebritsen, Devin L. GallowayEarthquakes: Hydrogeochemical precursors
Earthquake prediction is a long-sought goal. Changes in groundwater chemistry before earthquakes in Iceland highlight a potential hydrogeochemical precursor, but such signals must be evaluated in the context of long-term, multiparametric data sets.AuthorsSteven E. Ingebritsen, Michael Manga - Software