Press releases

Press releases and announcements are compiled and issued by the BGS Press Office.

Ancient mud helps predict Med’s wet winters

Plattform Leicher Kopie

Mud taken from deep within Europe’s oldest lake is helping scientists understand how Mediterranean rainfall has varied over the past 1.4 million years, and how it could change in the future.



16 September 2019
Hold onto your compass: true north and magnetic north cross at Greenwich for first time in 360 years

Geomagnetism

The angle a compass needle makes between true north and magnetic north is called declination. As the magnetic field changes all the time, so does declination at any given location. For the past few hundred years in the UK, declination has been negative, meaning that all compass needles have pointed west of true north.

The line of zero declination, called the agonic, is moving westward at a present rate of around 20 km per year. By September 2019, for the first time since around 1660, the compass needle will point directly to true north at Greenwich, London, before slowly turning eastwards.



30 August 2019
A long, hard look underground is required to reach net zero, say experts

Glasgow geothermal
The only way the UK can reach its target of net zero emissions by 2050 is by taking a better look below the surface, say experts from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and geologists from across the UK.


29 August 2019
Could groundwater provide the answer to future water resource challenges?

BGS logo
The British Geological Survey has shown that groundwater resources may have a significant role in securing future water resources under conditions of climate change.


29 August 2019
Induced seismicity at Preston New Road - Update 28/8/19

BGS logo
The British Geological Survey (BGS) confirmed today (26th August 2019) that a 2.9ML earthquake was recorded at 07.30 UTC (08.30 BST). This was a trailing event induced by the hydraulic fracturing at Preston New Road, near Blackpool, Lancashire. It is to date the highest recorded event at the Preston New Road site since operations began in October 2018.


26 August 2019
Study shows boreholes are key to drought resilience in Ethiopia

Hand dug well site
Installing more boreholes to tap underground water will improve rural Ethiopian communities' resilience to drought, according to a new report.


23 August 2019
Shale gas resource estimate generates debate in scientific journal Nature Communications

British Geological Survey (BGS)
New research from the University of Nottingham, supported by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and published in Nature Communications, has found through new, innovative techniques that resources within the Bowland Shale Formation could be lower than first thought.


20 August 2019
Rear Admiral Tim Lowe, CBE visits the Lyell Centre

Rear Admiral Tim Lowe, CBE visits the Lyell Centre
The British Geological Survey (BGS) was proud to welcome Rear Admiral Tim Lowe, CBE to the Lyell Centre in Edinburgh on 15 August 2019.


16 August 2019
Ice sheets controlled deep sea Arctic methane emissions

methane-emissions-timeline
Scientists from the UK and Norway have produced a 160,000 year timeline of methane emissions from the Arctic seabed and linked them to changing ice volumes in the Arctic.


9 August 2019
Groundwater resources in Africa resilient to climate change

African groundwater map
Groundwater experts from BGS have contributed to a new report that shows the groundwater, a vital source of water for drinking and irrigation across sub-Saharan Africa, is resilient to climate variability and change.


8 August 2019