Important collection of >37 000 rocks of historic and scientific value, incorporating the Former Reserve collection of the Geological Museum (South Kensington) but with recent additions, and includes many high (display) quality and unusual specimens. Extensive geographical and petrological coverage of UK, including historic quarry and mine samples; also sub-collections from overseas including Darwin's volcanic samples from Galapagos and Reunion, display sets of volcanics from several countries, Caribbean volcanic deposits from 1902, bauxite from Les Baux, monchiquite from Monchique, etc. Recent addition of c.600 samples from metaliferous mines in SW England (formerly kept at BGS Exeter office). Much of the collection was assembled in the 1930s at the new Geological Museum out of older material already in survey collections. Paper registers in accession sequence are supplemented by a local (PC-mounted) database currently covering almost 50% of the collection.

Index of onshore boreholes in England, Wales, and Scotland for which BGS holds material either as registered specimens or cuttings. Developed to improve access by BGS staff and external enquirers to the major UK borehole collection.

"Blue sheets" or more recently "sample collecting forms" are completed when palaeontological specimens or samples are collected during field work. They contain all the known geographical and geological details relating to the specimens/samples and thus form the primary information to all palaeontological & biostratigraphical data sets. The oldest blue sheet dates to 1879.

Named after the former BGS sample store at Gorst Road, London, this archival collection of c.600 rocks is made up of a series of sub-collections donated by past senior members of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. The donators include several past Directors and other important figures in the history of the GSGB, including Sir Henry De la Beche, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, Sir Archibald Geikie, Sir J.J.H.Teall, A. Greenly, A.C. MacGregor and many others. Many of the specimens have original labels attached to them. However, only scant details of tray contents are recorded in a local (PC-based) database, and there is no other register of the contents.

Stored in Murchison House, this dataset (FAUNGRAPHLOG_ED) is the BGS UK (North) collection of paper graphic logs from boreholes and measured natural sections, particularly in the Carboniferous of Scotland and northern England. Some 18000 of these records include hand written macrofossil occurrences and assemblages from certain (often subsequently interpreted) stratigraphical levels in the borehole or section. There is at present no separate index (either analogue or digital) to FAUNGRAPHLOG_ED but a pathway to it is FOSSLOC, the index to the Survey Collection of fossils from UK (North).

This dataset (GSE_REFERENCES) is a list of specimens held in the Type and Stratigraphical Collection of Scotland and Northern England, and the publications in which they are featured or illustrated. This database along with GSE_SPECIMENS (Index To The UK (North) Type And Stratigraphical Collection Of Fossils) and to some extent SMITH_GSE (Index To Specimens Transferred From The John Smith Collection To The UK (North) Type and Stratigraphical Collection) are the digital equivalents of the analogue card index (held in BGS Edinburgh).The latter contains c.16k records, of which perhaps 25% have now been transcribed. The MS Access database BGS_GSE_REFS presently contains 431 records (but does not include specimens from the John Smith Collection). This represents an unknown, but probably small, proportion of the Type and Stratigraphical Collection of Scotland and Northern England featured in publications. The database links with GSE_SPECIMENS, and can also provide species, authors and nomenclatural status. Many of the publications referred to are held in an extensive paper reprint collection.

Database of palaeontological specimens, world-wide coverage, including both "Museum" and "Survey" fossil collections from Keyworth and Edinburgh. Development commenced in Autumn 2000 and is ongoing. The database currently contains over 100,000 entries, including half of the taxonomic reference collection held at BGS Keyworth. Internet search access is available on the BGS web site. Key fields in the dataset, many of which can be searched for, include, sample number, nature of sample, confidentiality, collector/donator & year, register details, locality information (including grid reference, map sheet etc.), stratigraphy, type status, identifications & authority and publication details.

This index is a list of specimens and slides taken from the John Smith Collection and placed in the Type and Stratigraphical (T&S) Collection of Scotland and Northern England. To some extent it is the digital equivalent to part of the T&S analogue card index which is held in BGS Edinburgh. The data, however, appears to have been derived from the 5 leather bound volumes of the T&S register. The latter are held in BGS Keyworth, but equivalent information (microfilm and paper records) is held in BGS Edinburgh. The MS Access database (BGS_SMITH_GSE) contains 1123 records, it links the T&S register with that of the John Smith Collection (8 bound volumes held at BGS Edinburgh) and provides limited information on taxonomy, nomenclatural status and chronostratigraphy. It also has provision for stating where the specimen is housed. The repository of BGS John Smith specimens is the Edinburgh office.

This dataset is an taxonomic listing (various phyla and families) of Quaternary, Upper Tertiary and Carboniferous fossils relevant to the palaeontology of Scotland and Northern England. Species authors and some dates are given. The MS Access database MTD_TAXALIST presently contains 1169 records. It has provision for environmental interpretation, and publications in which the fossils are illustrated.