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.

The collection, amounting to c.6,000 records, consists of reports and data relating to geochemical sampling, geophysics, drilling and field mapping deposited by mineral exploration companies dating from c.1960 onwards. Major accessions include records of Mineral Exploration Incentive Grant Act (MEIGA) and reports and plans of Exploration Ventures Ltd (EVL) relating to NE Scotland. Indexed in Land Survey Record Index Database (LSRI).

"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.

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 index of the Survey Collection of fossils for Scotland and Northern England. It is the digital equivalent of the analogue (card) index. The latter contains some 31k records, c.70% of which has been transcribed. The continually growing Survey Collection comprises about 450k samples (including nearly 30k specimens from the John Smith Collection) which are individually registered in c.150 leather bound volumes. The Oracle relational database BGS_FOSSLOC is a first step in ascertaining what registered fossil materials exist for certain areas, who collected them and when, their geographical and stratigraphical details, the type of collection (whether from boreholes or exposures), and any covering technical reports. It is also a pathway to an extensive and unique collection of paper graphic logs, some 18k of which record annotated information on fossil occurrences and assemblages at certain stratigraphical levels (particularly in the Carboniferous) in Scotland and Northern England.

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.

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.

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.

Collection of individually registered specimens and cuttings from onshore boreholes drilled in England and Wales by BGS, commercial and public bodies since the establishment of BGS in 1835. The collection has been developed as part of the BGS responsibility to establish and maintain a National Borehole Collection. The collection is updated on a daily basis by the addition of new data and by the modification of existing data. The collection contains all registered borehole samples for England and Wales, Scottish borehole samples are excluded. Details of the collection are held on the 'Borehole Materials Database', and may be accessed over the internet from the BGS web site.