This is the collection of cores and samples held by BGS for the sea areas around the UK. It includes material collected by BGS during its mapping projects and material donated to BGS by other organisations. The main core and sample types are grab samples (sea-bed), gravity cores, vibrocores and rock-drill cores (up to 6m in length), and borehole cores (up to 274m in length). The sea-bed grab samples are Holocene sediments present at the sea-bed and are stored in plastic jars. Where possible, sub-sample material has been retained after analysis. The bulk of the cores consist of Holocene and Pleistocene material. The rest are of bedrock ranging in age from Neogene to Pre-Cambrian. A lot of the core was collected in plastic liner tubing and the unlithified cores have been split vertically. The bulk of the material was collected in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and early 1990's with ongoing additions of new sample and cores each year. The distribution is very variable, but, in general, there are grab samples and/or shallow cores spaced about every 5 - 10km across the entire UK Continental Shelf. In some localised areas the sampling density is much higher. The samples and cores are applicable to a wide range of uses including environmental, geotechnical and geological studies.

The concentrations of up to 30 trace elements in approximately 9,000 sea-bed samples from the UK Continental Shelf were determined by BGS using a variety of analytical techniques. In some cases samples were tested using more than one method. The analyses were carried out on freeze-dried samples of the sand and mud fractions of the samples. The data are stored as part of the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) Data Archive Centre (DAC) for Geology and Geophysics. Data are delivered via the BGS Offshore GeoIndex www.bgs.ac.uk/GeoIndex/offshore.htm geochemical layers. References: Stevenson, A G (2001) Metal concentrations in marine sediments around Scotland: a baseline for environmental studies, Elsevier Science; Stevenson, A G et al (1995) The geochemistry of sea-bed sediments of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf : the North Sea, Hebrides and West Shetland shelves, and the Malin-Hebrides sea area (http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/507899/).

BGS has drilled almost 600 boreholes to prove seismic interpretations of the marine Quaternary geology and bedrock from the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The collection also includes additional third party data and has assisted in the creation of BGS Marine Geology Maps. The boreholes penetrate beneath the sea bed to depths ranging from about 10m to over 300m depending on the target depth or technical problems associated with drilling the borehole. The data includes descriptive geological core logs and data which has been captured from these and in some cases natural gamma logs. A variety of analyses has been conducted on the core material such as Particle Size Analysis, micropalaeontological, geotechnical, palaeomagnetic and age dating. Core material are managed as part of the BGS Materials collection and are available for examination and subsampling. The data are stored as part of the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) Data Archive Centre (DAC) for Geology and Geophysics. Data are delivered via the BGS Offshore GeoIndex http://www.bgs.ac.uk/GeoIndex/offshore.htm. The activity and scan layers contains location information, metadata and links to scanned borehole logs, and the geological data layers contain observations and/or measurements as digital values. The data are applicable to a wide range of uses including environmental, geotechnical and geological studies. Reference: Fannin, NGT. (1989) Offshore Investigations 1966-87 British Geological Survey Technical Report WB/89/02, British Geological Survey.

This dataset is the complete collection of the British Geological Survey (BGS) held Marine Survey data. The data held includes digital data and analogue records, plus associated physical sample material. Data are stored within the National Geosciences Data Centre (NGDC) and the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) Data Archive Centre (DAC) for Geology and Geophysics. BGS have collected Marine Survey data since 1966 and have also been provided with a range of third-party data. The data includes geophysical data (seismic reflection, side-scan sonar, multibeam echosounder bathymetry and backscatter, gravity and magnetics) and sample data from boreholes, cores and seabed grabs (logs, geological descriptions, geochemical, particle size analysis and geotechnical data). The majority of surveys are within the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) area. Individual survey data coverage varies, depending on survey type (sampling, geophysics, multibeam or multi-disciplinary) and objectives (regional or local, shallow or deep). These data are applicable to a wide range of uses including environmental, geotechnical, geophysical and geological studies. Data are delivered via the BGS Offshore GeoIndex www.bgs.ac.uk/GeoIndex/offshore.htm. Additional data are available on request enquiries@bgs.ac.uk.