GeoExposures — Get logging! (BETA)
GeoExposures — recording temporary exposures and enhancing our knowledge of the geology of the UK through the GeoExposure community website.
GeoExposures has been designed and deployed by the BGS using Ushahidi crowdsourcing software to provide the geoscience community with a website to enable recording of temporary geological exposures, and to make the information available to all.
Here today, gone tomorrow
The geological community in the UK has long recognised that scientifically important information revealed in temporary exposures of bedrock and superficial (Quaternary) deposits is frequently 'lost to science'.
This is largely due to the temporary nature of the exposures and the inability of the geoscience community to respond at short notice.
Temporary exposures
GeoExposures is only concerned with the recording of temporary exposures, such as trenches, pipelines, foundation excavations, road cuttings and embankments.
It is not aimed at documenting natural exposures (e.g. inland and coastal cliffs; quarries etc.) nor with the conservation of geological sites (for further information see Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, Countryside Council for Wales and the GeoConservationUK.
Please select GeoExposures as your category when submitting a report as other geological observations can also be uploaded to this deployment.
How to log a temporary exposure
We have provided a simple deployment of crowdmap.com for the UK to allow the location of temporary exposures to be accurately plotted and recorded.
Simply record the location and geology of the site (e.g. bedrock, superficial or man-made deposits) as accurately as possible (up to 200 words), and submit your record along with photographs (.jpg image format).
You can locate the exposure using a hard copy map using an 8-figure grid reference or using a mobile phone with GPS that allows you to submit online.
Use our Coordinate converter to translate latitude and longitude of the location to British National Grid (BNG) [also known as National Grid Reference (NGR)].
The mandatory report fields are:
- Title
- Description
- Latitude and longitude
- Location name
- Category
...but please fill in as much as you are comfortable with.
Some report fields are optional, such as: e-mail address (useful if others wish to contact you about the geology), stratigraphical details and whether you are a trained geoscientist.
Use the online resources below to help describe the geology:
- Geology of Britain Viewer (showing bedrock and superficial geology of Britain)
- BGS Timechart (age of the rocks and deposits)
- BGS Stratigraphical Lexicon (formal names of rock units)
Optional section or log
To provide additional information about a temporary exposure please use the proforma ( ).
- Print off the form: sketch a geological section or log and provide a more detailed description of the site (e.g. level of fossils or minerals).
- To submit the proforma: photograph the printed form and upload it as a .jpg image along with your photograph(s).
Download the BGS William Smith Building example to give you an idea of the level of detail required for the main report and the optional detailed log.
Submissions will be moderated by a BGS geologist, but will not be quality controlled or scientifically endorsed by the BGS.
Safety
Do not enter sites without the permission of the land owner or person responsible; safety is your responsibility.
Terms and conditions
By uploading and depositing photos or materials, you, as depositor, do so on the understanding they may be used/re-used by others.
By depositing photos and materials you take full responsibility:
- to ensure that they are owned by you (or you have permission to do so); and
- understand that liability regarding their use/re-use may lie with you as depositor.
If there are doubts about ownership, check first before making a deposit on BGS citizen science sites.
BGS Citizen Science operates under the code of a:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Contact
For further information about britishGeologicalSurvey.crowdmap contact bgscitizenscience
