Julia Anna Gardner (January 26, 1882 – November 15, 1960),[1][2] was an American geologist who worked for the United States Geological Survey for 32 years.

[5] She earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1905 and a Master's degree in 1907 from Bryn Mawr College, studying paleontology and geology.

[4] Gardner was the first woman admitted as a full-fledged student to the Department of Geology at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her Ph.D. in paleontology in 1911.

[3] She then joined the United States Geological Survey, spending most of her career studying the Tertiary beds in the coastal plain, including areas from Maryland south into Mexico.

[3] During World War II, as a member of the Military Geology Unit, she became the leader of a group known as "The Dungeon Gang".

Within this group she helped to prepare plans for the armed forces, organized texts, shared ideas, and created maps.

[6] Gardner authored over 40 reports that were used as standards of reference regarding Tertiary strata in North and South America.

These include "The Midway Group of Texas" (Texas University Bulletin 3301, 1935); "Mollusca of the Tertiary Formations of Northeastern Mexico" (Geological Society of America, 1947); and "The molluscan fauna of the Alum Bluff group of Florida" (U.S. Geological Survey paper 142, 1926-1947).