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Ground-Penetrating Radar Soil Suitability Maps

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that is often mentioned in news commentaries for its use in locating unmarked graves, clandestine burials and tunnels, terrorism and military hazards, and disaster victims. However, the effectiveness of GPR in these activities is highly site-specific and soil dependent. A common concern of GPR service providers is whether or not GPR will be able to achieve the desired depth of penetration in the soils of an assignment area. In many soils, high rates of signal attenuation severely restrict penetration depths and limit the suitability of GPR for a large number of applications. Knowledge of the probable penetration depth and relative suitability of soils can help service providers assess the appropriateness of using GPR and the likelihood of achieving acceptable results. Soil attribute data contained in the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) and the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) databases have been used to develop thematic maps showing, at different scales and levels of resolution, the relative suitability of soils for many GPR applications.

Methodology

U.S. Map

This document requires Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe Acrobat documentGround-Penetrating Radar Soil Suitability Map of the Conterminous United States (2.1 MB)

State/Commonwealth Maps

These documents require Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe Acrobat documentAlabama (2.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentAlaska -- not available
Adobe Acrobat documentArizona (1.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentArkansas (2.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentCalifornia (2.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentCaribbean - Puerto Rico (1.2 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentColorado (3.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentConnecticut (14.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentDelaware (1.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentFlorida (1.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentGeorgia (2.9 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentHawaii (0.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentIdaho (1.7 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentIllinois (2.9 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentIndiana (2.4 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentIowa (2.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentKansas (1.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentKentucky (2.5 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentLouisiana (9.9 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMaine (1.2 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMaryland (1.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMassachusetts (14.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMichigan (1.8 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMinnesota (2.0 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMississippi (1.8 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentMissouri (2.2 MB)		 Adobe Acrobat documentMontana (3.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNebraska (19.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNevada (1.2 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNew Hampshire (1.2 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNew Jersey (1.0 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNew Mexico (1.7 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNew York (1.3 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNorth Carolina (1.8 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentNorth Dakota (2.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentOhio (2.0 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentOklahoma (2.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentOregon (2.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentPacific Basin -- not available
Adobe Acrobat documentPennsylvania (1.7 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentRhode Island (14.1 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentSouth Carolina (1.7 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentSouth Dakota (2.5 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentTennessee (1.6 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentTexas (3.0 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentUtah (2.4 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentVermont (1.2 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentVirginia (1.7 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentWashington (1.9 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentWest Virginia (1.5 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentWisconsin (1.9 MB)
Adobe Acrobat documentWyoming (2.3 MB)

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