The official BGS photographic archive contains an estimated 300,000 photographs. The archive has been built up systematically since its founding in 1891 and is becoming a very popular educational resource for images of the geology of the UK and overseas. A wide range of topics is represented: field geology, landscapes, oblique aerial photographs, geohazards, marine operations, fossil, rocks and photomicrographs of rocks and minerals in thin section. In addition there are an estimated 225,000 photographs held with former groups, projects and individual geoscientists. The collections hold a diverse range of photographic material which includes black and white or colour negatives, transparencies and prints. The film formats range from 35mm to 10"X8" which includes both film and large format glass plates.

The BGS archive photograph collections consists of three sub-collections, The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) photograph collection, Keyworth Library archive collection and the Archive Collection held in National Geological Records Centre (NGRC), Edinburgh. The British Association for the Advancement of Science photograph collection of prints was deposited on permanent loan from the BAAS, the photographs are of important historical interest and range in date from c. 1890 to 1940's. They are mostly field photographs of the UK and Ireland. The negatives were destroyed during the Second World War, the prints are held in the Library at Keyworth. The Keyworth library archive is an interesting assorted collection of historical photographs held in the Library Archive. Collections include subjects in the UK and overseas. Most are donated from external sources. The NGRC Edinburgh collection consists of photographs, mostly prints, held in the Scottish Land Survery Archives collection in Murchison House. They are mostly of historical interest and includes pictures of former staff.

This is the core collection of photographs in BGS it represents photographs taken by professional photographers and selected by subject and quality for public reference in the BGS libraries. The collection dates from c 1890 to c.1995 and is organized in a series of sub-collections depending on which office the photographers were based. The collection covers photography taken in the field during the geological mapping programme. Series A, the main Land Survey collection for England and Wales, are all taken by professional photographers and are of high quality. Dates from c.1890 to the start of the current "P" system, the first 7500 are glass plates. Series B, Edinburgh, part of the main Land Survey collection for Scotland, full plate size and all glass plates. Series C, Edinburgh, part of the main Land Survey collection for Scotland, half plate size. Series D, Edinburgh, part of the main Land Survey collection for Scotland consists of large format negative size with additional 35mm transparencies, earlier parts of the collection are black and white, later, colour. Series L, Keyworth, the main Land Survey collection for Northern England and Wales emanating from the Leeds Office, all are taken by professional photographers and include large format black and white, colour originals and colour 35 mm transparencies. Access constraints are only physical constraints relating to handling negatives and glass plates. scans are available in the Geoscience Imagebase. Photographs are either: Out of copyright; Crown or NERC.

A collection of aerial photographs providing national coverage supplied to BGS by Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). The aerial photos bought by BGS were taken during a two year period from 1988-89 and were bought by BGS for individual mapping projects. The photos are a copy of the originals held by the RCAHMS. Since 1976, RCAHMS has undertaken an annual programme of aerial survey, recording archaeological sites, monuments and buildings throughout Scotland. All RCAHMS data is crown copyright. The photos are for internal BGS use but external users are welcome to view them at BGS, an appointment must be made first. An index is provided on the Geoscience Data Index (GDI).

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.

The borehole information pack from borehole GGC01, site 10 of the UK Geoenergy Observatories (UKGEOS) Glasgow facility. This intermediate data release pack from BGS contains core scan optical and X-ray images from the core scanning facility at BGS Keyworth. The cored, seismic monitoring borehole was drilled between 19 November and 12 December 2018 to 199m producing a core of 102 mm diameter. The borehole was wireline logged in December 2018 and a string of 5 seismometers were installed in February 2019. A range of fluid, water and core samples were taken during the drilling process. The borehole information pack- intermediate release contains a range of logs on the core as well as images of that core, these data were acquired in the first half of 2019. More information is available in the accompanying metadata report http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525009.

The Marine Photographs Archive held by BGS includes photographs of hydrocarbon well and (non-hydrocarbon) marine boreholes, cores and other samples. There are also photographs of the seabed and survey operations. The photos are primarily for the UKCS (United Kingdom Continental Shelf) and surrounding areas and date from the 1970s onwards. The photographs, which are a mix of prints, negatives and digital are applicable to a wide range of uses including environmental, geotechnical and geological studies. There are also some x-rays of cores.