Interagency Reports by the Branch of Astrogeology, U. S. Geological Survey

During the decade of the 1960s, the U.S. Geological Survey was the premier institution providing scientific and technical support to NASA for the Apollo missions’ exploration of the Moon. The Survey conducted a wide variety of research, including mapping, observations, laboratory, and field studies designed to prepare and conduct America’s lunar surface explorations efficiently and productively. To report the results of this work expeditiously to their space agency sponsors, the Survey began a publication series entitled “Interagency Reports (IR).” These green-paperback reports were widely distributed around the USGS and NASA and enabled the rapid dissemination of new results and work products to a wide variety of people.

It would be a mistake to think that these reports (affectionately known as “green horrors” by Survey members) were simply preprints of papers or contractual fulfillments. In some cases, the IRs were preliminary versions of material later destined for formal publication, but many were never published formally, their purpose having been superceded by events. For example, two reports described advanced surface exploration of two sites on the Moon of high scientific interest, the Orientale basin (IR 7) and the Marius Hills volcanic complex (IR 14). When the later Advanced Apollo Program for long-range exploration of the Moon was cancelled, these reports became superfluous. Yet, they are still valuable as they synthesize a body of detailed geologic knowledge about lunar regions of high scientific interest.

As a service to the community, the Lunar and Planetary Institute has now digitized a subset of these Interagency Reports. Browse through this selection and you will find many hidden gems, from traverse planning to geologic guidebooks to descriptions of Apollo site geology. These valuable assets are now available to a wide variety of users.

Report #	Title	Author	Year
1	Development of computer programs for analysis of lunar geophysical survey data	Regan, R. D., Herskovits, J. L	1967
2	Cinder Lake Crater field location test	Bailey, N. G.	1967
3	Evaluation of periscopic aircraft sextant as a surveying tool during advanced systems field test 3	Sutton, R. L.	1968
4	Thumper final report, ALSEP Active Seismic Experiment	Watking, J. S., Whitcom, J. H.	1968
5	Preliminary lunar exploration plan of the Marius Hills Region of the Moon	Kalstrom, T.N.V., McCauley, J. F., Swann, G. A.	1968
6	Character and geologic habitat of potential deposits of water, carbon and rare gases on the Moon	Elston, D. P.	1968
7	Advanced systems traverse research project report	Ulrich, G. E.	1968
8	Remnant magnetism in meteorites	DuBois, R. L., Elston, D. P.	1968
9	Lunar geological field investigations	Swann, G. A.	1965
10	Test of court-stenographic techniquest for recording geologic descriptions	Shleicher, D.	1968
11	A limitation of first generation Lunar Orbiter negatives as applied to photoclinometry	Gambell, N., Lucchitta, B. K.	1968
12	The use of spectral analysis in describing lunar surface roughness	Rozema, W.	1968
13	Lunar crater morphology and relative age determination of lunar geologic units	Pohn, H. A., Offield, T. W.	1969
14	Five-day mission plan to investigate the geology of the Marius Hills Region of the Moon	Elston, D. P., Willingham, C. R.	1969
15	Photogrammetric calibration of Apollo film cameras	Borgeson, W. T., Batson, R. M.	1969
16	Experimental studies on the formation of lunar surface features by gas emission - A preliminary report	Schumm, S. A.	1969
17	Geologic maps of early Apollo landing sites of set c	Trask, N. J.	1969
18	A proposed scheme for lunar geologic description	M'Gonigle, J. W., Schleicher, D., Lucchitta, I.	1969
19	Strategy for the geologic exploration of the planets	Carr, M. H.	undated
20	Geologic transcript from Apollo 11 mission	Schleicher, D.	1969
21	Paraphrased geologic excerpts from Apollo 12 mission	Schleicher, D.	1970
22	Estimates of the mechanical properties of lunar surface using tracks and secondary impact craters produced by blocks and boulders	Moore, H. J.	1970
23	Petrology of lunar microbreccia 12103,6	James, O. B.	1970
24	Ground vibrations due to crater blasting near the Montezuma Indian School, Yavapai County, Arizona	Hassemer, J. N.,	1970
25	Preliminary log of 70 mm pictures taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 14 mission: Magazines II, JJ, KK, LL, MM with sample information	Batson, R. M., Larson, K. B., Sutton, R. L.	1971
26	Geologic mapping on very steep slopes using terrestrial photogrammetric methods	Grolier, M. J., Wu, S. S. C., Shafer, F. J.	1971
27	Documentation of the Apollo 14 samples	Swann, G.A., Batson, R. M., Eggleton, R. E. Larson, K. B., Shafer, J. P., Sutton, R. L.	1971
28	Documentation of the Apollo 14 samples (Supersedes Interagency Report 27)	Sutton, R. L., Batson, R. M., Larson, K. B., Schafer, J. P.l, Eggleton, R. E., Swann, G. A.	1971
29	Preliminary geologic investigations of the Apollo 14 landing site	Swann, G.A., et al.	1971
30	A test of self-stationarity	Regan, R. D.	1971
31	Closeup photography of rocks and soils: An evaluation of the Apollo Lunar Closeup Stereo Camera and the Hasselblad Electric Data Camera	Ulrich, G. E.	1971
32	Preliminary report on the geology and field petrology at the Apollo 15 landing site	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1971
33	Size - frequency distributions of fragments obtained from areal counts of sections	McLoughlin, D.	1971
34	Preliminary documentation of the Apollo 15 samples	Sutton, R. L., et al.	1971
35	Preliminary catalog of pictures taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 15 mission	Batson, R. M., et al.	1971
36	Preliminary description of Apollo 15 sample environments	Swann, G. A., et al.	1971
37
38	Low velocity impacts with cohesionless sand	Wahl, F. E.	1971
39	Analytical approach to finite slope stability analysis	Vischer, W. A., Martin, G. L.	1971
40	Evaluation of the MSFC facsimile camera system as a tool for extraterrestrial geologic exploration	Wolfe, E. W. , Alderman, J. D.	1971
41	Geology of Hadley Rille: Preliminary report	Howard, K. A., Head, J. W., Swann, G. A.	1972
42	Distribution of ultramafic xenoliths at 12 North American sites	Wilshire, H. G., Schwarzman, E. C., Trask, N. J.	undated
43	Guide to the geology of Sudbury Basin, Ontario, Canada (Apollo 17 Training Exercise, 5/23/1972–5/25/1972	Dence, M. R., Boudette, E. L., Lucchitta, I.	1972
44	Isodensitometery - A tool for interpreting pictorial data	Bonner, W. J., Philpott, B. C.	1972
45	Prototype and preliminary geologic mapping of Mars from Mariner 6 and 7 data	McCauley, J. F. et al.	1972
46	Apollo 16 (Descartes) landing site road log	Boudette, E. L., Schafer, J. Pl., Elston, D. P.	1972
47	Documentation of Apollo 15 samples	Sutton, R. L., et al.	1972
48	Preliminary report on the geology and field petrology at the Apollo 16 landing site	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1972
49	Progress report: Apollo 16 sample documentation	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1972
50	Preliminary catalog of pictures taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission	Batson, R. M., Larson, K. B., Tyner, R. L.	1972
51	Documentation and environment of the Apollo 16 samples: A preliminary report	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1972
52	Atlas of geologic features in the dry valleys of South Victoria Land, Antarctica: Possible analogs of martian surface features	Morris, E. C., Mutch, T. A., Holt, H. E.	1972
53	Preliminary Mariner report on the geology of Mars	McCaule, J. F., Carr, M. H., Cutts, J. A., Harmann, W. K., Masursky, H., Milton, D. J., Sharp, R. P., Wilhelms, D. E.	1973
54	Preliminary geologic investigation of the Apollo 16 landing site	Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team,	1972
55	Geologic mapping of the second planet	Wilhelms, D. E.	1972
56	Mars cartography: The 1:5,000,000 Map Series	Batson, R. M.	1972
57	Desert land forms of Peru: A preliminary photographic atlas	Grolier, M. J., Ericksen, G. E., McCauley, J. F., Morris, E. C.	1974
58	Television cartography	Batson, R. M.	1973
59	Geologic maps and terrain analysis data for Viking Mars 1975 landing sites considered in December 1972	Masursky, H., Strobell, M. H.	1975
60	Geologic maps and terrain analysis data for Viking Mars 1975 landing sites considered in February and April 1973	Masursky, H., Strobell, M. H.	1975
61	Mapping the planet Mars by Mariner 9	Batson, R. M., Dwornki, S. E.	1974
62	Viking rover studies	Masursky, H., Boyce, J. M., Dial, A. L.	1974
63	Topographic mapping of Mars	Wu, S. S. C.	1975
64	Lava flows in Mare Imbrium: An evaluation of anomalously low Earth-based radar reflectivity	Schaber, G. G., Thompson, T. W., Zisk, S. H.	1974
65	Variations in surface roughness within Death Valley, California: Geologic evaluation of 25-cm wavelength radar images	Schaber, G. G., Berlin, F. L., Brown, W. E.	1975
66	A summary of relative ages of lunar nearside and farside plains	Boyce, J. M., Dial, A. L., Soderblom, L. A.	1975
67
68	Atlas of Mars.  USGS Mars Mapping Group		1976
69	Preliminary report on the geology and field petrology at the Apollo 17 landing site	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1972
70	Preliminary catalog of pictures taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission	Larson, K. B., Batson, R. M., Reed, V. S., Wolfe, E. W.	1973
71	Documentation and environment of the Apollo 17 samples: A preliminary report	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1973
72	Preliminary geologic analysis of the Apollo 17 site	Apollo Lunar Geology Investigation Team	1973
73	Apollo 17 landing site geology	Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team, Batson, R. M., Larson, K.B., Reed, V. S., Griemsmann, E. M., Tyner, R. L., Wolfe, E. W.	1975
74	Mars Nomenclature, December 1974 Version	Masursky, H., Strobell, M. H.	1975
75	Correlation of photogeology and remote sensing data along the Apollo 14 bistatic- radar ground track: Part I - a working compendium	Moore, H. J., Tyler, G. L., Boyce, J. M., Shorthill, R. W., Thompson, T. W., Walker, A. S., Wilhelms, D. E., Wu, S. S. C., Zisk, S. H.	1975
76
77
78	The optimal sun angle for obtaining photographs of Martian surface features from orbit	Boyce, J., Dial, A. L., Masursky, H.	1976
79	Geologic map of the central far side of the Moon	Stuart-Alexander, D. E.	1976
80	Correlation of photogeology and remote sensing data along the Apollo 14, 15, and 16 bistatic-radar ground tracks: Part II--a working compendium	Moore, H. J., Tyler, G. L., Boyce, J. M., Shorthill, R. W., Thompson, T. W., Wilhelms, D. E., Wu, S. S. C., Zisk, S. H.	1976
81	Yardangs of Peru and other desert regions	McCauley, J. F., Grolier, M. J., Breed, C. S.	1977
82	A summary of relative ages of the lunar nearside maria based on Lunar Orbiter IV photography	Boyce, J.	1976
83	Morphology of Chasma Walls, Mars	Lucchitta, B. K.	1977