Project Pre-Buggy II consisted of the detonation of five rows of five charges each, one row of 13 charges, and four single charges, at the Nevada Test Site during June and August 1963. Each charge was 1,000 pounds of the liquid explosive nitormethane (NM) contained in a 36 inch diameter spun aluminum sphere. The purpose was to extend the knowledge of cratering with rows of charges in desert alluvium that had been gained from Project Pre-Buggy I. Both experimental series were intended to provide data to be used in the design of the Project Buggy nuclear row charge experiment of the Plowshare nuclear excavation research program.

The report presents the results of preshot and postshot geologic and engineering properties investigations performed in conjunction with the Project Pre-Gondola I cratering experiment series. The Pre-Gondola I series consisted of the detonation of four 20-ton HE charges at varying depths of burst in highly over-consolidated Bearpaw clay shale at Fort Peck, Montana. Detailed surface and subsurface postshot investigations were conducted at the Bravo crater. Surface postshot investigations only were conducted at the other crater sites. (Author).