Researcher

Mitch Plummer, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Research Areas:

Biography:

Dr. Mitchell Plummer is a research scientist at Idaho National Laboratory. His research interests and experience range from modeling mass and energy transport in fractured rock to using secular variations in the production of cosmogenic radionuclides as a groundwater tracer. He received his doctorate and master’s degrees in hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, N.M., where his research focused on long-term changes in water balance of surface water, glaciers and groundwater in arid regions. At INL since 2001, his work has generally focused on heat transport in the subsurface, with studies including determination of recharge from unsaturated zone temperature profiles, analysis of thermo-sensitive reactive tracer behavior in geothermal systems, and 3D modeling of heat and groundwater transport in the Snake River Plain aquifer. Plummer is an affiliate professor of earth sciences at Idaho State University.

Education:

Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Science - New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

M.S., Hydrology - New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

B.S., Psychology - University of Lowell

Publications:

Rowan, A., S. Brocklehurst, D. Schultz, M. Plummer, L. Anderson, N. Glasser (2014) Late Quaternary glacier sensitivity to temperature and precipitation distribution in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 5, DOI:10.1002/2013JF003009.

Harrison, S., A. Rowan, N. Glasser, J. Knight, M. Plummer, S. Mills (2014) Little Ice Age glaciers in Britain: Glacier-climate modelling in the Cairngorm Mountains, The Holocene, 2, 24 (2), DOI:10.1177/0959683613516170.

Putnam, A., J. Schaefer, G. Denton, D. Barrell, B. Andersen, T. Koffman, A. Rowan, R. Finkel, D. Roodh, R. Schwartz, M. Vandergoes, M. Plummer, S. Brocklehurst, S. Kelley, and K. Ladig (2013) Warming and glacier recession in the Rakaia valley, Southern Alps of New Zealand during Heinrich Stadial , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 11, 382, 98-110. DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.005.

Martin-Hayden, J., M. Plummer and S. Britt (2013) Controls of Wellbore Flow Regimes on Pump Effluent Composition, Groundwater, DOI: 10.1111/gwat.12036.

Rowan, A.V., M.A. Plummer, S.H. Brocklehurst, M.A. Jones and D.M. Schultz (2012), Drainage capture and discharge variations driven by glaciation in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, Geology, 41, 2, p. 199-202.

Phillips, F.M., M.G. Zreda, M.A. Plummer, D. Elmore and D. Clark (2009). Glacial Geology and Chronology of Bishop Creek and Vicinity, Eastern Sierra Nevada, California, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 121; 7/8; p. 1013-1033.

Refsnider, K. A., B.J. Laabs, M. A. Plummer, D.M. Mickelson, B.S. Singer, M.W. Caffee (2008). Last glacial maximum climate inferences from cosmogenic dating and glacier modeling of the western Uinta ice field, Uinta Mountains, Utah, Quaternary Research, 69; 1; p. 130-144.

Laabs, B.J., M.A. Plummer and D.M. Mickelson (2006). Climate during the last glacial maximum in the Wasatch and southern Uinta Mountains inferred from glacier modeling. Geomorphology, 75: 300-317.

Forbes, J.R., M.A. Plummer, S.L. Ansley (2006). Annual INTEC Water Monitoring Report for Group 4 – Perched Water (2005), DOE/ID-11259.

E. Mattson, M. Ankeny, S. Dwyer, N. Hampton, G. Matthern, B. Pace, A. Parsons, M. Plummer, S. Reese and J. Waugh (2004). Preliminary Design for an Engineered Surface Barrier at the Subsurface Disposal Area, ICP/EXT-04-00216.

Plummer, M.A., L.C. Hull and D.T. Fox (2004). Transport of Carbon-14 in a Large Unsaturated Soil Column. Vadose Zone Journal, 3, p.109-121.

Plummer, M.A. and F.M. Phillips (2003). A 2-D numerical model of snow/ice energy balance and ice flow for paleoclimatic interpretation of glacial geomorphic features. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, p. 1389-1406.

Walvoord, M. A., M. A. Plummer, F. M. Phillips, R. Neupauer (2002). Deep arid system hydrodynamics: 1. Equilibrium states and response times in thick desert vadose zones. Water Resources Research, 10.1029/2001WR000824.

Researcher // <![CDATA[ _spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames.push("setupPageDescriptionCallout"); // ]]>