Abstract After World War II, the Military Geology Unit of the U.S. Geological Survey was transformed into the Military Geology Branch, which recruited about 150 younger scientists over time to continue the compilation of terrain intelligence on a global scale. Source materials were the scientific journals, books, maps, and photographs available in the Washington area, and most topics were presented on maps accompanied by succinct tables and short narrative texts. The following principal administrative units and research programs evolved: (1) Strategic Studies Section (1945–1972; funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and later by the Defense Intelligence Agency) was the major production unit. Its principal responsibility was to contribute to the comprehensive small-scale National Intelligence Surveys Program. Another significant section effort included the Pacific Engineer Intelligence Program, which involved the compilation in Washington of seven series of 1:250,000-scale thematic maps for most of Southeast Asia. (2) Pacific Field Program (1945–1962; Corps of Engineers) was a research and mapping program in areas formerly occupied by Japan. (3) Alaska Terrain and Permafrost Section (1947–1965; Corps of Engineers and U.S. Geological Survey) conducted field studies on surficial geology and permafrost phenomena in Alaska and other Arctic areas and compiled reports with maps and engineering interpretations, most at a 1:250,000 scale of Alaska. (4) European Field Program, principally undertaken by the U.S.G.S. Team (Europe) (1953–1964; U.S. Army Europe), published a series of 24 1:250,000-scale maps of military engineering geology for western Germany and 131 1:100,000-scale maps of cross-country movement for all of Germany, and the team served as a consultant. (5) Austere Landing-Site Program (1956–1970; U.S. Air Force) compiled large-scale studies on arid lands, both inside and outside the United States and on Arctic ice-free land. (6) Special Intelligence Element (established 1959; Corps of Engineers and Defense Intelligence Agency) continues to serve as geoscientific consultants to the special intelligence community. (7) Nuclear-Test Detection Program (principally 1962–1972; Advanced Research Projects Agency) compiled studies assisting in the interpretation of global seismic signals, particularly the five-volume 1:5,000,000-scale Atlas of Asia and Eastern Europe.

Abstract Lack of terrain data contributed significantly to the high costs of lives and operations during the Pacific campaign of World War II. After the war the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted with the Military Geology Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey to gather detailed terrain information about the occupied islands under direct U.S. jurisdiction in the event they or comparable oceanic islands became sites of future military operations. The U.S. Geological Survey established a headquarters in Tokyo and initiated field studies of Okinawa during 1946. Subsequent detailed studies were launched at the Palau Islands (1947), Yap Islands (1947), Saipan (1948), Tinian (1949), Guam (1951), Pagan, Marianas Islands (1954), Truk (1954), Ishigaki and Miyako (1955), and the Marshall Islands (reconnaissance, 1951). Initial plans for detailed studies of all mandated islands were abandoned for lack of time, but members of the field parties briefly visited nearly all. Field teams included geologists, hydrologists, soils scientists, a plant ecologist, and a climatologist. The Tokyo office gathered and translated existing Japanese literature about the islands; more than 600 articles were translated. A by-product was the establishment of a joint U.S.-Japanese project to compile and publish a series of 1:250,000 geologic maps of formerly held Japanese territories, including Korea, Manchuria, northeast China, southern Sakhalin Island, and the Kuriles. Results of the field studies were published in a series of military geology folios composed of both basic and interpretive chapters. U.S. Geological Survey professional papers presented many of the scientific results.

Abstract Over the past 100 years, hydrogeology has played a role in most military operations undertaken by the USA. The first significant application by US forces took place during World War I, on the Western Front. America's entry into World War II highlighted the need for military hydrogeologists once again, and a combination of civilian and uniformed hydrogeologists provided valuable support to the war effort, notably by terrain analysis. During the Cold War, the United States Geological Survey Military Geology Branch conducted military hydrogeological studies, and in 1985 the US Army Corps of Engineers created the Water Detection Response Team (WDRT) to provide hydrogeological expertise to military well-drilling units. During the Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991, groundwater was important for sustaining troops living in the northern Saudi Arabian desert. Operations in Bosnia and Kosovo later in that decade required the assistance of the WDRT in obtaining adequate groundwater supplies for base camps. Current military operations in Afghanistan rely on groundwater as a significant source for most US bases. In combination, uniformed and civilian geologists serving in a variety of roles to support American troops have located water supplies essential to the success of US military operations around the globe.

Abstract In warfare military geologists pursue five main categories of work: tactical and strategic terrain analysis, fortifications and tunneling, resource acquisition, defense installations, and field construction and logistics. In peace they train for wartime operations and may be involved in peace-keeping and nation-building exercises. Although many geologists view military geology as a branch of engineering geology, the U.S. military does not include geologists in its force structure and gets geological assistance on an ad hoc basis. The army does, however, include organic terrain teams at division and higher levels to provide routine information for mission planning and execution. The classic dilemma for military geology has been whether support can best be provided by civilian technical-matter experts or by uniformed soldiers who routinely work with the combat units.

Abstract The German Army developed a military geological organization during World War I largely as a response to near-static battlefield conditions on the Western Front, in Belgium and northern France. In 1916 it was assigned to support military survey, but in late 1918 it was reassigned to the engineer branch of the Army. It contained over 350 geologists and associated technicians by the end of the war. Military geologists contributed advice on engineering geology and hydrogeology (principally on water supply, but also site drainage). They compiled a large number and wide range of groundwater prospect maps to guide military planning, at scales typically from 1:250 000 to 1:25 000. They contributed advice to guide effective use of groundwater by means of dug or bored wells, ‘Abyssinian’ driven tube wells, and protected capturing of springs. Field hygiene was of particular concern, and military geologists helped to avoid contamination of groundwater, for example by appropriate siting of cess-pits and cemeteries. A few officers made use of dowsing in attempts to locate groundwater, including at least one German in support of Ottoman Turk campaigns SW from Palestine towards the British-held Suez Canal, their Austro-Hungarian allies in campaigns south against Italy and in the Balkans, but with relatively insignificant success.

Abstract Economic Geology, the use of geologic science in the discovery, production, and economics of mineral resources, and Engineering Geology, the application of the science to the requirements of engineering, are two important branches of applied geology. There is, of course, much interfingering and overlapping between them. Engineering Geology finds its greatest usefulness in civil, military, and mining engineering. Engineering Geology is obviously not a division of geologic science. A review of its development during the past half century is not a resume of advancements in geology as a whole or in any of its phases, but rather a review of the utilization of geology in engineering. Such an account perhaps more properly belongs in a resume of engineering, for it is clearly a story of progress in engineering practice. There is no history to be written in terms of successive discoveries of new facts or principles marking successive advancements in engineering geology. An attempt to compile such a record would entail a review of progress in practically all divisions of geologic science, as essentially all phases of geology are brought into play in the practice of engineering geology. A review of important applications of engineering geology in specific cases of engineering operations during the past 50 years would, moreover, be difficult if not impossible because most of the geological reports have been privately made and are unpublished and not available.

Abstract Potential military applications of geology became apparent in Europe by the late eighteenth century, notably to Napoleon Bonaparte. In the United Kingdom, nineteenth-century practice was commonly to teach elementary geology to army officer cadets, and in twentieth-century conflicts to deploy a single uniformed geologist as a staff officer within each major regional headquarters, initially leaving terrain analysis to geographers. In Germany, considerably greater use was made of uniformed geologists serving as teams within all theaters of military operation in both world wars, generating a wealth of data now published or accessible in national archives. In the United States, a few military geologists were appointed to serve in uniform in France during World War I, but during World War II, a far greater number were civilians, based within a Military Geology Unit of the U.S. Geological Survey at Washington, D.C. Despite different organizational backgrounds, and irrespective of nationality, military geologists have addressed similar geoscience problems.