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Hawai‘i Division of Hydrography Bulletins

The Hawaii Division of Hydrography Bulletins contain the first comprehensive and detailed studies of the geology and water resources of the (then) Territory of Hawai‘i. The main author of this remarkable series was Harold T. Stearns, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey for more than 20 years. His first publication about Hawai‘i was a USGS Water Supply Paper (with W.O. Clark) on the geology and water resources of the Ka‘u District on the island of Hawai‘i. Local supporters of his geology efforts were not happy with the five year delay in publication of this work by the USGS, so Stearns sought and obtained State money and USGS approval for quicker local printing of his later collaborations. “Thus was born the Hawaii Division of Hydrography Bulletins” as Stearns put it in his autobiography Memoirs of a Geologist: from Poverty Peak to Piggery Gulch (1983).

Bulletin 1 was published in 1935 and Bulletin 12 in 1947, just after Stearns retired. Gordon Macdonald completed the set in 1960 with Bulletin 13 on the geology and water resources of Kaua‘i. The Bulletins have long been out-of-print, but are still important references for anyone working in the field of Hawaiian geology. Bulletins 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 are provided here in Adobe Acrobat readable form as legacy USGS publications. We are grateful for these high-quality scans made available to us by Glenn Bauer, state geologist, and Kevin Gooding from the Commission on Water Resource Management of the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the State of Hawai‘i, and Jenna Nolt, USGS. The following is a complete list of the 13 Bulletins (italicized entries are not included):

Bulletin 1: (64.5 MB)
Stearns, H.T., and Vaksvik, K.N., 1935, Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Oahu, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 1, 479 p. [includes plates].

Bulletin 2:
Stearns, H.T., 1939, Geologic map and guide of the island of Oahu, Hawaii (with a chapter on mineral resources): Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 2, 75 p.; 1 folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Bulletin 3:
Stearns, N.D., 1935, Annotated bibliography and index of geology and water supply of the island of Oahu, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 3, 74 p.

Bulletin 4: (15.1 MB)
Stearns, H.T., and Vaksvik, K.N., 1938, Records of the drilled wells on the island of Oahu, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 4, 213 p.

Bulletin 5:
Macdonald, G.A., 1940, Petrography of the Waianae Range, Oahu, in Stearns, H.T., ed., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 5: Supplement to geology and ground-water resources of Oahu, Hawaii, p. 61-91 [includes folded map inserts].

Stearns, H.T., 1940, Supplement to the geology and ground-water resources of the island of Oahu, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 5, 164 p. [includes folded map inserts].

Swartz, J.H., 1940, Resistivity survey of Schofield Plateau, in Stearns, H.T., ed., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 5: Supplement to Geology and ground-water resources of Oahu, Hawaii, p. 56-59 [includes folded map inserts].

Bulletin 6: (32.3 MB)
Stearns, H.T., 1940, Geology and ground-water resources of the islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 6, p. 177 p. (pt. 1, Geology and ground-water resources of Lanai, p. 1-115; pt. 2, Geology and ground-water resources of Kahoolawe, p. 117-173); 1 folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500).

Macdonald, G.A., 1940, Petrography [of Lanai Island, Hawaii], Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 6: Geology and ground-water resources of the islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe, Hawaii, p. 61-63; 1 folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500).

Macdonald, G.A., 1940, Petrography of Kahoolawe [Hawaii], in Stearns, H.T., ed., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 6: Geology and ground-water resources of the Islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe, Hawaii, p. 149-173.

Swartz, J.H., 1940, Geophysical investigations on Lanai, in Stearns, H.T., ed., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 6: Geology and ground-water resources of the islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe, Hawaii, p. 97-115; 1 folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500).

Bulletin 7: (70 MB)
Stearns, H.T., 1942, General geology and ground-water resources of the island of Maui, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 7: p. 1-222; 2 folded maps in pocket, scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Macdonald, G.A., 1942, Petrography of Maui, in Stearns, H.T., and Macdonald, G.A., eds., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 7: Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Maui, Hawaii, p. 275-334; 2 folded maps in pocket, scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Macdonald, G.A., 1942, Geology and ground-water resources of the Nahiku area, East Maui, in Stearns, H.T., and Macdonald, G.A., eds., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 7: Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Maui, Hawaii, p. 223-274; 2 folded maps in pocket, scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Bulletin 8:
Stearns, H.T., 1946, Geology of the Hawaiian Islands: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 8,  106 p. [includes plates].

Bulletin 9: (92.6 MB)
Stearns, H.T., and Macdonald, G.A., 1946, Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 9, 363 p.; 2 folded maps in pocket (scale 1:125,000) [includes plates].

Bulletin 10:
Macdonald, G.A., 1947, Bibliography of the geology and water resources of the island of Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 10, 191 p.

Bulletin 11: (21.6 MB)
Stearns, H.T., and Macdonald, G.A., 1947, Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Molokai, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 11, 113 p.; 2 folded maps in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Macdonald, G.A., 1947, Petrography of Molokai, in Stearns, H.T., and Macdonald, G.A., eds., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 11: Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Molokai, Hawaii, p. 89-110; 2 folded maps in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Bulletin 12: (8.2 MB)
Stearns, H.T., 1947, Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Niihau, Hawaii: Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 12, 53 p.; folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Macdonald, G.A., 1947, Petrography of Niihau, in Stearns, H.T., ed., Hawaii (Terr.) Division of Hydrography Bulletin 12: Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Niihau, Hawaii, p. 39-51; folded map in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

Bulletin 13: (22.9 MB)
Macdonald, G.A., Davis, D.A., and Cox, D.C., 1960, Geology and ground-water resources of the island of Kauai, Hawaii: Hawaii Division of Hydrography Bulletin 13, 212 p.; 2 folded maps in pocket (scale 1:62,500) [includes plates].

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