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Over 8000 technical reports have been released by ���ճԹ�’s National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC), comprising internal unpublished works created outside the formal publishing and distribution system. They pre-date the current report series and, for any given title, only a few copies were produced for deposit in ���ճԹ� libraries or offices, making them traditionally hard to find and access. They cover the full spectrum of ���ճԹ� activities and subjects, including:

• onshore geology, including the important ‘geological notes and local details’ (essentially, sheet descriptions for 1:10 560/1:10 000 maps)
• marine geology
• minerology and petrology
• mineral resources
• global seismology
• geomagnetism

The 16 series and just under 100 subseries can now be navigated via the ; more detailed notes on this complex set of reports are available on . A search facility for authors and titles is also available in the application. The file sizes of technical reports are much smaller than formal ���ճԹ� publications, so they have been made available as PDF downloads only.

This first technical report release represents ���ճԹ�’s non-confidential reports. A second project is underway to review confidential reports with a view to a future release.

The release of these reports demonstrates ���ճԹ�’s continued commitment to providing open access to geoscience data of value to the nation.  These reports, created by ���ճԹ� during the latter half of the past century and now all in digital form, contain a wealth of geological information and knowledge that is now easier to access and utilise.

Alison Steven, data operations and governance manager (NGDC).