William Seyfried

About

William Seyfried is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. His research primarily involves studies designed to better understand geochemical processes that control the chemical evolution of natural fluids within and on the Earth. His group employs experimental, theoretical, and field-based approaches to develop process-oriented information related to mineral-fluid systems across a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Recent projects include modeling the response of hydrothermal systems to various perturbations, studying seafloor hydrothermal systems with a focus on iron, sulfur, and hydrogen transport, and conducting fluid-mineral reaction experiments to inform reactive transport modeling at the pore scale. Seyfried's work emphasizes the development and application of new technologies for measuring, monitoring, and controlling key components in aqueous fluids, expanding into organic components to explore broader heat and mass transport reactions. His research has provided new insights into reactive transport processes, including implications for carbon dioxide sequestration in subsurface geological formations. He is recognized for his contributions to geochemistry and hydrothermal systems, and he is a fellow of several scientific societies, including the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society, and the European Association of Geochemistry.

Research topics

• Geochemistry
• Geology
• Oceanography
• Paleontology
• Chemistry
• Mineralogy
• Petrology
• Physics
• Astrobiology
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Deep high-temperature hydrothermal circulation in a detachment faulting system on the ultra-slow spreading ridge

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 147 citations

  Coupled magmatic and tectonic activity plays an important role in high-temperature hydrothermal circulation at mid-ocean ridges. The circulation patterns for such systems have been elucidated by microearthquakes and geochemical data over a broad spectrum of spreading rates, but such data have not been generally available for ultra-slow spreading ridges. Here we report new geophysical and fluid geochemical data for high-temperature active hydrothermal venting at Dragon Horn area (49.7°E) on the S…

  DOI

• A seawater throttle on H ₂ production in Precambrian serpentinizing systems

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 56 citations

  Significance Our current understanding of the redox state of Earth’s ancient atmosphere is heavily dependent on the assumption that ancient low-temperature serpentinizing systems produced abundant H 2 , as they do today. Here, we examine this assumption using data that constrain Fe partitioning in serpentine minerals. We find that H 2 production is linked to a Si deficiency in the serpentine structure, which itself is caused by low SiO 2 (aq) concentrations in fluids derived from modern seawater…

  DOI

• Barium isotopes in mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal vent fluids: A source of isotopically heavy Ba to the ocean

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2020 · 45 citations

  DOI

• Molybdenum in basalt-hosted seafloor hydrothermal systems: Experimental, theoretical, and field sampling approaches

  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2023-06-01 · 26 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Crystal-chemical origins of the ultrahigh conductivity of metallic delafossites

  Nature Communications · 2024-02-15 · 23 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Despite their highly anisotropic complex-oxidic nature, certain delafossite compounds ( e.g ., PdCoO 2 , PtCoO 2 ) are the most conductive oxides known, for reasons that remain poorly understood. Their room-temperature conductivity can exceed that of Au, while their low-temperature electronic mean-free-paths reach an astonishing 20 μm. It is widely accepted that these materials must be ultrapure to achieve this, although the methods for their growth (which produce only small crystals) a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Accomplishment Based Renewal: An experimental study of phase separation and mineral fluid equilibria on iron and hydrogen transport in mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems

  NSF · $431k · 2017–2023

• Collaborative Research: The Response of Continental Hydrothermal Systems to Tectonic, Magmatic, and Climatic Forcing

  NSF · $594k · 2015–2021

• In-Situ Sensors for Monitoring the Chemistry of Hydrothermal Fluids: Experimental Calibration and Field Applications

  NSF · $473k · 2002–2007

Frequent coauthors

• Benjamin M. Tutolo

  University of Calgary

  49 shared

• A. J. Luhmann

  39 shared

• Drew D. Syverson

  University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  36 shared

• Martin O. Saar

  ETH Zurich

  35 shared

• Dionysis I. Foustoukos

  34 shared

• Wayne C. Shanks

  United States Geological Survey

  34 shared

• Chunyang Tan

  University of Minnesota

  33 shared

• Nicholas J. Pester

  30 shared

Labs

• Aqueous Geochemistry LabPI

Awards & honors

• Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2011
• Fellow, Geochemical Society, 2010
• Fellow, European Association of Geochemistry, 2010

Similar researchers at University of Minnesota

• R. Lawrence Edwardsh-120
• Marc Hirschmannh-75
• Christian Teyssierh-56