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Carole D. Johnson

Carole Johnson is a hydrologist with the Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area Observing Systems Division. Carole serves as lead of the Technology Development and Transfer Team and is the manager of the Hydrogeophysics for Hydrologic Science Function, which promotes technology transfer of geophysical methods.

Carole provides leadership to USGS hydrologists nationally on development and application of hydrogeophysical methods to USGS groundwater studies through applied research, training, and policy development. Carole’s research interests include use of borehole- and surface-geophysical methods and hydraulic testing for characterization of fractured-rock aquifers. She has coauthored ~50 USGS publications on use of hydrogeophysical methods for aquifer characterization for water resources and contaminant investigations. An experienced trainer, Carole has taught numerous webinars and more than 20 hands-on workshops for scientists on geophysical field methods, data processing, and data analysis for groundwater investigations, including through USGS courses, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Groundwater Association Fractured Rock Conference workshops, Carole currently holds a professional geologists license in New Hampshire and classes for licensed environmental professionals in New Jersey and around New England.

Education and Certifications

  • Carole currently holds a professional geologist’s license in New Hampshire.

Science and Products

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Scientists hold borehole tool.

Borehole Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an emerging geophysical method being applied to hydrogeology investigations.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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Borehole Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an emerging geophysical method being applied to hydrogeology investigations.
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Photo of a USGS scientist preparing a spectral gamma tool for use.

Spectral Gamma Borehole Logging

Spectral gamma borehole geophysical methods measure natural-gamma energy spectra, which are caused by the decay of uranium, thorium, potassium-40, and anthropogenic radioactive isotopes. Spectral gamma data can be used to identify and quantify the amount of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40 isotopes detected in boreholes.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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Spectral Gamma Borehole Logging

Spectral gamma borehole geophysical methods measure natural-gamma energy spectra, which are caused by the decay of uranium, thorium, potassium-40, and anthropogenic radioactive isotopes. Spectral gamma data can be used to identify and quantify the amount of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40 isotopes detected in boreholes.
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Plot of sample gamma energy spectrum.

Understanding Spectral Gamma: Fundamentals of Nuclear Geophysics

The principles essential to the interpretation of gamma, gamma-spectrometry, gamma-gamma, and various types of neutron logs include the nature of subatomic particles and the particles and photons emitted by unstable isotopes.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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Understanding Spectral Gamma: Fundamentals of Nuclear Geophysics

The principles essential to the interpretation of gamma, gamma-spectrometry, gamma-gamma, and various types of neutron logs include the nature of subatomic particles and the particles and photons emitted by unstable isotopes.
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A saltwater tracer was injected into the shallow aquifer at a uranium-contaminated site in Colorado

Hydrogeophysics — Storrs, Connecticut

About the Research The Environmental Health Program collaborates with geophysicists and hydrologists to develop, demonstrate, and support the application of geophysical methods to environmental-health investigations. They have expertise in a diverse suite of geophysical field methods including electrical, electromagnetic, seismic, radar, gravity, and thermal; these methods are run from land-based...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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Hydrogeophysics — Storrs, Connecticut

About the Research The Environmental Health Program collaborates with geophysicists and hydrologists to develop, demonstrate, and support the application of geophysical methods to environmental-health investigations. They have expertise in a diverse suite of geophysical field methods including electrical, electromagnetic, seismic, radar, gravity, and thermal; these methods are run from land-based...
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Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing data collected for improved mapping and monitoring of contaminated groundwater discharges along the upper Quashnet River, Mashpee and Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA 2020

In summer in Massachusetts, USA, preferential groundwater discharge zones are often colder than adjacent streambed areas that do not have substantial discharge. Therefore, discharge zones can efficiently be identified and mapped over space using heat as a tracer. This data release contains fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS) data collected along the streambed interface of the main
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Water Resources Mission Area

Passive Seismic Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio Measurements at Transportation Infrastructure Sites in New Hampshire, 2022

In 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) made 107 horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) passive seismic geophysical measurements at four transportation infrastructure sites in New Hampshire to determine the benefits of HVSR as an enhancement to traditional geotechnical site characterizations performed by NHDOT. Typ
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New England Water Science Center

Geophysical and Other Data From an Irrigation Monitoring Experiment at Haddam Meadows, CT, July 2019

An irrigation monitoring experiment was performed in Haddam Meadows State Park, Connecticut, on July 16, 2019. Prior to this experiment, ground penetrating radar (GPR), frequency domain electromagnetics (FDEM), and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) geophysical data were collected over a 20 meter by 10-meter grid to provide baseline information. A vertical soil moisture probe was installed in
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New York Water Science Center

Selected borehole geophysical logs from three contaminant sites in California, Wisconsin, and New Jersey

Borehole geophysical logs were collected to characterize bedrock aquifers at three contamination sites located in California, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Guelph from 2014 to 2015 as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Techn
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Water Resources Mission Area

Geophysical Data Collected for an Assessment of a Proposed Landfill Site in Fredericktown, Missouri, June 2018

In June 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collected geophysical measurements to help evaluate the suitability of a proposed landfill site for disposing mine-waste materials in Fredericktown, Missouri. Geophysical methods were used to evaluate and characterize the unconsolidated sediment (i.e., regolith) above the crystalline
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Water Resources Mission Area

Borehole, Surface and Water-Borne Geophysical Surveys at the Callahan Mine Superfund Site in Brooksville, Maine: October 2016 to July 2018

From October 2016 to July 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Maine Department of Transportation, collected surface, marine and borehole geophysical surveys to characterize the subsurface materials on land and under the water at a former mine facility in Brooksville, Maine. Three water-based geophysical methods were used to evaluate the geomet
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New England Water Science Center

Surface geophysics investigations at Edwards Air Force Research Laboratory, Antelope Valley, California, 2018

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is about 7 kilometers southwest of Boron, California, and covers 320 square kilometers of Edwards Air Force Base. The AFRL consists of 12 facilities for testing full-size rocket engines, engine components, and liquid and solid propellants. The historical release of contaminants from rocket test stands, evaporation ponds, burn pits, catch basins, and leaking
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California Water Science Center

Transient Electromagnetics, Passive Seismic, and Borehole Electromagnetics, Gamma, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods to Characterize an Unconsolidated Aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Reserved for CDJ. Transient Electromagnetics, Passive Seismic, and Borehole Electromagnetics, Gamma, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods to Characterize an Unconsolidated Aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts Johnson, White, Phillips, Pappas, Hull, LeBlanc, and Lane
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Water Resources Mission Area

Geophysical Data Collected in the Cedar River Floodplain, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2015-2017

A suite of geophysical methods was used along the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to support the hydrogeologic characterization of the alluvial aquifer associated with the river and to assess the area for suitability for larger-scale airborne geophysics. The aquifer is comprised of sand and gravel, interbedded with finer sediments, and underlain by carbonate-dominated bedrock. The aquifer is the
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Temperature and seepage data from a lake-bottom permeable reactive barrier, Ashumet Pond, Falmouth, MA, 2004-2015.

These data were collected to evaluate groundwater/surface-water exchange in the area of a lake-bottom permeable reactive barrier and to assess changes in groundwater seepage over the period between 2004 and 2015. This data release includes geospatial datasets, comma separated values (.csv) files, and associated FGDC-compliant metadata representing data collected between 2004 and 2015 as part of a
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New England Water Science Center

Transient Electromagnetic Surveys Collected for Delineation of Saline Groundwater in the Genesee Valley New York: October-November 2016

In late October and early November 2016, transient electromagnetic (TEM) data were acquired at two locations in Livingston County, in western New York, in order to characterize the subsurface resistivity structure in support of a U.S. Geological Survey groundwater investigation. The TEM data were collected as part of a pilot project to evaluate geophysical methods to characterize the valley-fill s
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Water Resources Mission Area, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program
Filter Total Items: 49

Predevelopment water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials, Hinkley and Water Valleys, California

Hydrologic and geophysical data were collected to support updates to an existing groundwater-flow model of Hinkley Valley, California, in the Mojave Desert about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. These data provide information on predevelopment (pre-1930) water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials.A predevelopment groundwater-level map,
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Krishangi D. Groover, John A. Izbicki, Whitney A. Seymour, Anthony N. Brown, Randall E. Bayless, Carole D. Johnson, Katherine L. Pappas, Gregory A. Smith, Dennis A. Clark, Joshua Larsen, Meghan C. Dick, Lorraine E. Flint, Christina L. Stamos, John G. Warden
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Field evaluation of semi-automated moisture estimation from geophysics using machine learning

Geophysical methods can provide three-dimensional (3D), spatially continuous estimates of soil moisture. However, point-to-point comparisons of geophysical properties to measure soil moisture data are frequently unsatisfactory, resulting in geophysics being used for qualitative purposes only. This is because (1) geophysics requires models that relate geophysical signals to soil moisture, (2) geoph
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Neil Terry, F.D. Day-Lewis, John W. Lane, Carole D. Johnson, Dale Werkema
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Water Resources Mission Area, New York Water Science Center

GW/SW-MST: A groundwater/surface-water method selection tool

Groundwater/surface-water (GW/SW) exchange and hyporheic processes are topics receiving increasing attention from the hydrologic community. Hydraulic, chemical, temperature, geophysical, and remote sensing methods are used to achieve various goals (e.g., inference of GW/SW exchange, mapping of bed materials, etc.), but the application of these methods is constrained by site conditions such as wate
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Steven Hammett, Frederick Day-Lewis, Brett Russell Trottier, Paul M. Barlow, Martin A. Briggs, Geoffrey N. Delin, Judson Harvey, Carole D. Johnson, John W. Lane, D. O. Rosenberry, Dale D. Werkema
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Water Resources Mission Area

Groundwater chemistry, hydrogeologic properties, bioremediation potential, and three-dimensional numerical simulation of the sand and gravel aquifer at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, near Milton, Florida, 2015–20

The U.S. Geological Survey completed a study between 2015 and 2020 of groundwater contamination in the sand and gravel aquifer at a Superfund site in northwestern Florida. Groundwater-quality samples were collected from representative monitoring wells located along a groundwater-flow pathway and analyzed in the field and laboratory. In general, ambient groundwater in the sand and gravel aquifer is
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James Landmeyer, Eric D. Swain, Carole D. Johnson, John T. Lisle, W. Scott McBride, David H. Chung, Michael A. Singletary
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Water Resources Mission Area, Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center (CFWSC), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Conceptual and numerical groundwater flow model of the Cedar River alluvial aquifer system with simulation of drought stress on groundwater availability near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for 2011 through 2013

Between July 2011 and February 2013, the City of Cedar Rapids observed water level declines in their horizontal collector wells approaching 11 meters. As a result, pumping from these production wells had to be halted, and questions were raised about the reliability of the alluvial aquifer under future drought conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Cedar Rapids, com
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Adel E. Haj, Wonsook S. Ha, Lance R. Gruhn, Emilia L. Bristow, Amy M. Gahala, Joshua F. Valder, Carole D. Johnson, Eric A. White, Shelby P. Sterner
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Nuclear magnetic resonanance logs of fractured bedrock at the Hidden Lane Landfill site, Culpeper Basin, Virginia

In May 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collected borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (bNMR) logs in three boreholes completed in sandstone and siltstone of the Balls Bluff Member of the Bull Run Formation at a Superfund Site in Culpeper Basin, Virginia. The bNMR logs were used to aid in the evaluation of the aquifer by meas
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Carole D. Johnson, Stephanie N. Phillips, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Claire R. Tiedeman, Bruce Rundell, Edward Gilbert
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Water Resources Mission Area

Time-domain electromagnetic soundings and passive-seismic measurements for delineation of saline groundwater in the Genesee Valley-fill aquifer system, western New York, 2016–17

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, used noninvasive surface geophysics in the investigation of the distribution of saline groundwater in the valley-fill aquifer system of the Genesee River Valley near the former Retsof salt mine in western New York. In 1994, the Retsof salt mine, the largest of its kind in the western hemisp
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John H. Williams, William M. Kappel, Carole D. Johnson, Eric A. White, Paul M. Heisig, John W. Lane
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Water Resources Mission Area, New York Water Science Center

Beware of spatial autocorrelation when applying machine learning algorithms to borehole geophysical logs

Although many of the algorithms now considered to be machine learning algorithms (MLAs) have existed for nearly a century (e.g., Rosenblatt 1958), interest in MLAs has recently increased exponentially for solving data-driven problems across a variety of fields due to the expanded availability of large, complex datasets that may be difficult to interrogate using other methods, increases in computin
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Neil Terry, Carole D. Johnson, Frederick Day-Lewis, Beth L. Parker, Lee D. Slater
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Water Resources Mission Area, New York Water Science Center

Characterizing the diverse hydrogeology underlying rivers and estuaries using new floating transient electromagnetic methodology

The hydrogeology below large surface water features such as rivers and estuaries is universally under-informed at the long reach to basin scales (tens of km+). This challenge inhibits the accurate modeling of fresh/saline groundwater interfaces and groundwater/surface water exchange patterns at management-relevant spatial extents. Here we introduce a towed, floating transient electromagnetic (TEM)
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John W. Lane, Martin A. Briggs, PK Maurya, Eric A. White, JB Pedersen, Esben Auken, Neil Terry, Burke J. Minsley, Wade Kress, Denis R. LeBlanc, Ryan F. Adams, Carole D. Johnson
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Water Resources Mission Area, New England Water Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Assessment of NMR logging for estimating hydraulic conductivity in glacial aquifers

Glacial aquifers are an important source of groundwater in the United States and require accurate characterization to make informed management decisions. One parameter that is crucial for understanding the movement of groundwater is hydraulic conductivity, K. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging measures the NMR response associated with the water in geological materials. By utilizing an extern
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Alexander K. Kendrick, Rosemary Knight, Carole D. Johnson, Gaisheng Liu, Steven Knobbe, Randall J. Hunt, James J. Butler
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Water Resources Mission Area, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Borehole-wall imaging with acoustic and optical televiewers for fractured-bedrock aquifer investigations

Imaging with acoustic and optical televiewers results in continuous and oriented 360 degree views of the borehole wall from which the character and orientation of lithologic and structural features can be defined for fractured-bedrock aquifer investigations. Fractures are more clearly defined under a wider range of conditions on acoustic images than on optical images including dark-colored rocks,
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John H. Williams, Carole D. Johnson
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Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program

Lithostratigraphic, geophysical, and hydrogeologic observations from a boring drilled to bedrock in glacial sediments near Nantucket Sound in East Falmouth, Massachusetts

In spring 2016, a 310-foot-deep boring (named MA–FSW 750) was drilled by the U.S. Geological Survey near Nantucket Sound in East Falmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the hydrogeology of the southern coast of western Cape Cod. Few borings that are drilled to bedrock exist in the area, and the study area was selected to fill a gap between comprehensive geologic datasets inland to the north and ma
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Robert B. Hull, Carole D. Johnson, Byron D. Stone, Denis R. LeBlanc, Timothy D. McCobb, Stephanie N. Phillips, Katherine L. Pappas, John W. Lane
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Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, New England Water Science Center

Fractured Rock Geophysical Toolbox Method Selection Tool (FRGT-MST)

The Fractured Rock Geophysical Toolbox Method Selection Tool (FRGT-MST) is an Excel-based tool for identification of geophysical methods most likely to be appropriate for project goals and site conditions.

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Water Resources Mission Area

FLASH: A Computer Program for Flow-Log Analysis of Single Holes

FLASH (Flow-Log Analysis of Single Holes) is a computer program for the analysis of borehole vertical flow logs.

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Water Resources Mission Area, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Nevada Water Science Center

Science and Products