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Randall Bayless

Randall is a Research Hydrologist in the RGEG program and Groundwater Specialist for the Indiana-Kentucky Water Science Center; he has worked for the science center since 1989. He also is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis. 

Projects at USGS have covered a wide range of interests including

  • karst hydrology,
  • isotope geochemistry,
  • Lake Michigan,
  • horizontal flow meter technologies,
  • pesticide and nutrient fate,
  • unsaturated zone instrumentation and transport modeling,
  • high pH (slag) and low pH (coal mine) settings,
  • surface and borehole geophysics, and
  • wetland hydrology.

Education

Attended Wabash College, Purdue University (B.S. 1983), Indiana University (M.S. 1987, Ph.D. 1994). 

Received a B.S. from Purdue University with a geology major and mathematics minor.

Received a M.S. from Indiana University with a major in hydrogeology and a minor in numerical methods. The M.S. thesis used numerical modeling to verify field evidence of ice-sheet surging during the Pleistocene epoch.

Received a Ph.D. from Indiana University with a major in hydrogeology and a minor in geochemistry. The Ph.D. dissertation used hydraulic and geochemical modeling to determine that hydrated iron-sulfate minerals were responsible for acute acid-mine drainage events.

Horizontal Borehole Flowmeters

Horizontal borehole flowmeters may provide opportunities to measure the rate and direction of groundwater flow and the advective transport of dissolved and neutrally buoyant contaminants. Optical, acoustic, thermal, and chemical technologies are being evaluated. Research is directed toward defining the limits of each technology and the environmental and hydrologic conditions that are best suited for each tool. Testing has been done in field settings and laboratory aquifer simulators.