Press releases

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

Breaking Ground on the new Scottish Headquarters of the British Geological Survey

Architect's impression of the new Lyell Centre
On the 21st January 2015 a ground breaking ceremony heralded the start of the £20m Lyell Centre at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Campus. The Centre will be the Scottish headquarters for the British Geological Survey (BGS) as well as a major joint BGS/Heriot-Watt University research centre for geological, petroleum and marine sciences.


26 January 2015
Chancellor announces £31m for subsurface research

Monitoring and testing future energy in the UK
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne last week announced that the Government will allocate £31 million of funding to create world-class subsurface research test centres through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This will establish world-leading knowledge which will be applicable to a wide range of energy technologies including shale gas and carbon capture and storage.


19 January 2015
UK’s first independent research to monitor fracking as it happens

Monitoring of methane in groundwater

The British Geological Survey (BGS) plans to expand its existing national environmental monitoring programmes by carrying out independent detailed research in areas of the UK that may see shale gas exploration and production. In a UK first, this will include independent monitoring during hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') subject to planning approvals at two proposed shale gas exploration sites in Lancashire. All results of this research will be open and made freely available to the public.



15 January 2015
Course correction for the world's smartphones

Geomagnetic field chart
A new set of charts predicting the Earth’s magnetic field for the next five years have been released by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).


18 December 2014
New G-BASE for south-west England

G-BASE south-west map example
The British Geological Survey’s G-BASE project is proud to announce the release of geochemical data for the south-west of England


11 December 2014
Addressing fuel poverty in Scotland’s traditional homes

Oil rig
Experts are to advise Scottish Government that fuel poverty, which already affects 27% of Scottish households, could be significantly reduced if steps are taken to tackle poor maintenance in traditional buildings.


1 December 2014
Free Geological Data from beneath the waves

Vibrocore in the North Sea

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has today published an online database of freely viewable and downloadable Marine Geoscience Data, available through the Offshore GeoIndex, covering the whole UK Continental Shelf. It holds approximately 80,000 sampling locations that have a range of valuable geochemical, geological, geotechnical and sediment data including PDF files of legacy scanned data sheets and borehole logs. Offshore data like these are important for research into areas such as carbon storage, energy resources, planning, habitat mapping and conservation.



14 November 2014
New Directory of Mines & Quarries released by the BGS

DMQ cover
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has just released the 10th edition of the Directory of Mines and Quarries (DMQ 2014). This invaluable directory contains information on over 2000 mineral workings and related mineral handling sites operating in 2014. This is available as a free download from the BGS website and as a printed book.


13 November 2014
New course to create Next Generation Geoscientists

3D Visualisation Suite
A unique new degree in Environmental Geoscience has been launched at The University of Nottingham in collaboration with the world-renowned British Geological Survey.


17 October 2014
BGS launches the Maps Portal – Gateway to UK geology

Example of a published map
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has today released high resolution scans of over 6000 geological maps which were previously published on paper. The "BGS Maps Portal" provides free to view small and medium scale maps produced by the BGS since geological mapping began in 1832. The Maps Portal includes the recent 1:50,000 mapping of England, Wales and Scotland, geochemical and geophysical maps and also historical maps. The maps and sections will be of interest to anyone who has a passion for geology as well as academics and professionals.


7 October 2014