The BGS database of geological maps is an index into BGS holdings of modern and historical published geological maps, geological standards and field slips, and also contains a range of other map series, including geophysical maps, geochemical maps, hydrogeological maps, thematic maps and other small-scale miscellaneous non-series maps. Historical vertical and horizontal sections, as well as indices to colours, are also included. The database comprises map metadata, including the title, theme, survey and revision years, publication years, mapped geological theme, base material, map function, colouration, approval status and the spatial extent of each map sheet. An accompanying file store contains high-resolution JPEG2000 scans for delivery, as well as various digital master and delivery formats. For a small number of maps, no scan exists. In total, the database contains over 240,000 scans of over 130,000 maps and field slips. The majority of the maps in the database cover Great Britain, but other regions are also represented, including a historical series of 1-inch maps of Ireland, 6-inch maps of the Isle of Man, 1:25 000 scale maps of the Channel Islands, and various overseas maps. The database contains a record of all geological maps produced by the British Geological Survey and its predecessors since the commencement of systematic geological mapping in the 1830s. The BGS Maps Database is mostly an archive of previous BGS maps, and is not the same as the latest BGS digital mapping. The maps within the database may differ significantly from BGS digital vector mapping. Further information about BGS digital vector mapping is available on the BGS website, under 'BGS Datasets'. The database has evolved over time, originally being a series of discrete databases. These databases have now been aggregated into a single dataset. BGS published maps, as well as 1:10 560 and 1:10 000 large-scale geological maps of England and Wales, and Scotland, are available through the BGS Maps Portal. Field slips and some thematic maps are not included on the BGS Maps Portal. The information about a map is normally a transcription from the map itself. Sometimes key information such as the title may not be actually printed on the map. Where this is the case the information is supplied in square brackets, e.g. [Kirk Maiden]. Information in square brackets means the information is supplied by the cataloguer and is not transcribed from the item.

The Regional Geochemical Atlases are the principal hard copy product of the British Geological Survey G-BASE (Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment) project. The majority of atlases are for stream sediment, with data on stream water and soil included where available. Separate stream sediment, soil and stream water atlases have been published for Wales. This dataset relates to the hard-copy atlases, which are available for Shetland, Orkney, South Orkney and Caithness, Sutherland, Hebrides, Great Glen, East Grampians, Argyll, Southern Scotland, Lake District, NE England, NW England and N Wales and Wales. The atlases were issued between 1978 and 2000. Each atlas comprises a set of separate interpolated heat-maps for each analyte, as well as descriptive and interperative information. The atlases provide an invaluable, systematic baseline of geochemical information for Great Britain, serving as a marker of the state of the environment against which to measure future change. Digital atlases and map products are also available for the Clyde Basin, central England, the London region and south-west England. National-scale digital atlas products are also available.

A collection of small-scale non-series maps which offer whole-country coverage of the United Kingdom 1856-2013. Included in the collection are geological, tectonic, structural, mineral resource and geophysical maps, together with a small number of historical facsimile maps. Key geological maps included in the collection which ran to many editions are Geology of the British Islands 1:584 000 and the Geological Map of Great Britain 1:625 000. These maps are hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

This layer displays the urban areas for which there is an "urban geochemical mapping" report. An integral part of the G-BASE (Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment) mapping programme is to map and establish the soil geochemical baselines of urban areas. These data provide unique soil chemical information for the urban environment and are used to; assess the condition of soils within populated areas, identify and quantify human impact on soils in urban areas through comparison with the rural, natural soil geochemical background and Indicate elevated concentrations of potential harmful elements. 27 urban areas which have been sampled by the project to date.These include Glasgow, Nottingham, Ipswich and Cardiff.

UK continental shelf seabed sediment data at 1:1 million scale. This data layer is the BGS contribution to the OneGeology project, providing UK onshore geological data at 1:625 000 scale and UK continental shelf seabed sediment data at 1:1 million scale.

The UK Compiled Topsoil Dataset (UKTS) is the most extensive topsoil geochemistry dataset for the UK available at the time of release (August 2024). The dataset consists of 82 georeferenced TIFF raster images (GeoTIFF format) with a cell size of 500 x 500 m, displaying the predicted concentrations for 41 chemical elements in UK topsoil and their respective standard error. The dataset is based on the geochemical analyses of 57,966 topsoil samples collected between 1978 and 2014 and analysed by X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The UKTS was brought together by combining data from the following sources: i. the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) rural and urban topsoil dataset (which accounts for 76.4% of the topsoil samples included in the UKTS) ii. the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) TellusNI rural and urban topsoil geochemical survey dataset (13.8% of the UKTS samples) iii. the BGS-Rothamsted Research X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) rural soil dataset (RR-BGS XRF), based on sub-samples held at Rothamsted Research from the National Soil Inventory (NSI) of England and Wales sample archive, National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield University (9.8% of the UKTS samples). An atlas of the compiled topsoil concentrations for the UK is available to download (https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535963) and all maps are available to view within the UK Soil Observatory website (https://www.ukso.org). The dataset covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Clyde Basin in Scotland. The GeoTIFF raster image maps were produced from the interpolation by ordinary kriging of the concentration values in the source data points, using the geostatistical wizard in the geostatistical analyst toolbox of ESRI ArcGIS 10.8.

Digital hourly mean values of the Geomagnetic field elements from Lerwick, Eskdalemuir, Abinger and Hartland Observatories. Eskdalemuir data are available from 1911, Lerwick from 1926, Hartland from 1957 and all three are available up to yesterday's date. Values from Abinger (1926-1956) are available on request. Most data are definitive, but recent data (within the last 203 years) are provisional and may be corrected in the future. Values of declination (D), horizontal intensity (H) and vertical intensity (Z) are available. The units of declination are degrees. Declination is negative when west of true north. The units of horizontal intensity and vertical intensity are nT (nanotesla). Vertical intensity is positive in the downwards direction. The data from these observatories will not only aid scientific research into rates of change of the magnetic field and increase the accuracy of the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model, but will also provide data to exploration geophysicists engaged in current and future oil exploration.

The UK contains extensive resources of coal, both at surface and in the subsurface. It is estimated that onshore these surface and subsurface deposits cover an area of approximately 40,000 km2. This dataset is derived from a 2004 study to assess the potential of the UK onshore coal resources for both exploitation by conventional (mining) and new technologies. Digital data was created using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce the delivered output of the original project, a series of paper maps that would identify prospective areas. The dataset layers include: Mining Technologies: Area with technical potential for opencast workings (source Coal Resource Map of Great Britain BGS/Coal Authority 1999) Underground mining exploration prospects Good prospects for abandoned mine methane (AMM) (Mine workings not recovered) Resource area for coal mine methane (CMM) (source Coal Authority Underground Licences, May 2002) Extent of underground workings with 500m buffer zone (based on Coal Authority data, May 2002) New Technologies: Area greater than 1200m from surface with potential for CO2 sequestration Area with good coalbed methane (CBM) potential Underground coal gasification (UCG) potential Coalbed methane (CBM) resource area Coal-bearing strata

This is a digital version of the paper based 1:1M scale Offshore Quaternary map, North and South sheets. Customers should be aware that, given the age of the paper based maps, the digital version is not quality assured and BGS can accept no liability for the information held on the digital map. In addition, published 1:250,000 Quaternary maps are available. These contain more detailed subdivision of the Quaternary succession. The original paper based map covers the UK Continental shelf. The paper map is symbolised using lithology and chronology. The lithological boundaries were compiled from the data published in the BGS 1:250,000 Quaternary Geology map series and from revised interpretation of core and borehole data. Core and borehole sites are commonly 5 to 20 km apart, thus the lithological divisions are generalised. The formations and sequences identified by BGS have been grouped into Quaternary age ranges. The geological codes assigned to the digital version of the map have been compiled using the key information held on the paper map. The LEX-ROCK style codes combine the lithology and chronology and have been subject to the standard BGS approval process.

This layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows where aquifer vulnerability maps are available for England and Wales. These maps identify areas in which the groundwater resources require protection from potentially polluting activities. The maps are designed to be used by planners, developers, consultants and regulatory bodies to ensure that developments conform to the Policy and Practice of the Environment Agency for the protection of Groundwater. The Soil Survey, Land Research Centre and the British Geological Survey were commissioned by the Environment Agency to prepare 53 groundwater vulnerability maps at 1:100,000 scale. Currently we are unable to provide scanned copies of these maps due to Copyright restrictions. Please note that these maps are based on data from the late 1980's and early 1990's. More up-to-date digital data may now be available from the Environment Agency.