Reports of work carried out worldwide by the BGS and its precursors. These reports cover a wide range of scientific and technical disciplines and were produced for a variety of purposes. Reports date from about 1950 although there are only a comparatively small number of reports pre 1960. The reports are not published but copies can be provided on demand, in hard copy or pdf format ,subject to any restrictions.

Registers dating from the 1950s listing some of the macrofossil collections held in the Geological Survey of Ireland between 1868 and 1875. They are numbered sequentially, but as they are a selection only, there are some gaps in the numbers. Numbers included are: I1-4893; K1253-4937;L319-3247;N961-3066;O4521-5000; P1-4393; R1-1270;S1978-2099; T1-500 and U1-2113.

Photographic negatives of Geological map 'Standards', manuscript and published maps produced by the Survey on County Series (1:10560) and National Grid (1:10560 & 1:10000) Ordnance Survey base maps. Current holdings over 41,000 maps for Great Britain. The majority of maps were scanned in 2004, any new maps produced are scanned and added to the collection. This is essentially a back up collection for disaster recovery.

This dataset contains records of the BGS analytical chemistry laboratories prior to the year 2000. It is basically an archive of original records and includes card indexes, files and raw analytical data. Files may contain background detail on the samples themselves but coverage is variable; information has been collected over many years in different formats. Different analytical techniques have been used over the years; consequently data are of variable quality as systems have improved with time. Samples analysed could be from anywhere in the world and were usually analysed for internal BGS customers. These are paper records and are available for viewing or copying. Any constraints on data usage would be dependant on individual files. Anyone wishing to access the records would require assistance from staff familiar with the data.

Registers of microfossil analyses carried out by FW Anderson in London mainly during the 1950s and 1960s, but includes older collections,notably those of Davis (1935) and Burrows (1948). Specimens recorded are mainly ostracods, but include some foraminifera and some charophytes and holothurians. Sample number, locality/borehole, specimen identifications, remarks, cross referencing to the SAM and other data sets are given. The set is arranged: MIK(M) 1-4483 in 41 volumes on Mesozoic (predominantly) ostracods MIK(T) 1-1590 in 11 volumes, Tertiary foraminifera MIK( C) 1-400 in 5 volumes, Carboniferous ostracods MIK (J) 1-1219 in 8 volumes Jurassic microfossils (few identifications) MIK(K) 1-677 in 7 volumes Cretaceous microfossils (identifications patchy) MIK(J)F, MIK(K)F and MIK(T)F are small foreign collections.

Three volumes of SAM samples (SAM1-SAM4789) exist. They represent the work of FW Anderson in the 1950s and 1960s. All samples were re-registered into other datasets. They are predominantly from the Cretaceous and Tertiary. Sample number, fossil type, locality and geological details are given, including borehole name and depth where appropriate.

Rock and mineral samples (c.12 000) from former investigations of uranium resource potential in UK and overseas by the UK Atomic Energy Division and the Institute of Geological Sciences. Material samples are accompanied by paper registers, unpublished brief technical reports and a card index. Selected samples have been incorporated into the BGS Reference Mineral Collection (REFMINS) and hence recorded in the BRITROCKS database.

The collection of over 19,000 site investigation reports for Scotland and Northern England consists of records of boreholes, trial pits, geotechnical results and interpretative reports acquired from various sources. The collection started c.1960 to cater for the increasing amount of post-war shallow drilling for building and road construction which was kept separately by the Survey from the Borehole Journal collection reserved for deeper geologist examined mineral bores. The site investigation reports are available for consultation on microfilm. Only the factual parts of reports are available for public inspection. Reports for Northern England are held in the Shallow Borehole File (SB), now no longer added to. All site investigation reports (except SB files) are indexed on the Land Survey Record Index (LSRI) and all boreholes and trial pits contained in the reports (those with adequate site plans) are indexed on the Single Onshore Borehole Index (SOBI).

Collections of Aerial Photographs purchased or obtained by BGS and its precursors as part of its surveying activities. Data covers mainly Great Britain or areas where BGS has worked overseas and dates from the 1940's. The collection is incomplete and there are copyright and other constraints on its use.

Reports of ground investigations (also known as site investigations) produced by external organisations carried out for all forms of site investigation. The reports date back to the 1950s and may contain information on boreholes, trial pits, laboratory tests and chemical analyses etc. The collection covers the whole of Great Britain with concentrations around urban areas and transportation routes. The interpretive parts of the reports are not available to public. Reports from onshore Great Britain (or near shore) site investigations are held in the National Geoscience Data Centre in paper, microfilm or digital format. The entire collections at BGS Edinburgh has been scanned, but in BGS Keyworth currently only reports received since 2002 have been scanned. Scanning started in 2002 and is ongoing with new records being scanned and added to the collection. Images are stored in TIFF format and are indexed in the Site Investigation Database and Detailed Accessions Database. The boreholes within the report, and any associated images, are linked to the Single Onshore Borehole Index.