Browsing the BGS News Archive - Site updates

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The BGS have published some new analyses on the likely temperatures to be found at borehole depths in Britain between 100 and 1000 m.

Accessing heat from the ground is set to become increasing important as renewable heat plays an ever increasing role in the renewable energy mix.

In a paper, published in the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, BGS scientists have analysed 1748 discreet temperature measurements. Expected temperatures at depths below the ground surface of 100, 200, 500 and 1000 m are 13, 16, 24 and 38 °C respectively.

More about The measured shallow temperature field in Britain

A new supply risk index for chemical elements or element groups which are of economic value

The risk list gives a quick indication of the relative risk in 2011 to the supply of the chemical elements or element groups which we need to maintain our economy and lifestyle. The position of an element on this list is determined by a number of factors which might impact on supply. These include the abundance of elements in the Earth s crust, the location of current production and reserves, and the political stability of those locations.

The risk list highlights a group of elements where global production is concentrated in a few countries. The restricted supply base combined with the relatively low political stability ratings for some major producing countries significantly increase risk to supply. The list highlights economically important metals which are at risk of supply disruption including rare earths, platinum group metals, niobium and tungsten. The list also shows the current importance of China in production of many metals and minerals.

More about the Risk list 2011

During the last ice age the island of Anglesey in north-west Wales lay beneath a thick ice sheet that flowed down the Irish Sea. After the ice melted away it left a distinctive footprint on Anglesey in the form of gently rolling landforms and glacial sediments.

The interactive Anglesey i-Map shows the landforms and sediments and summaries of how the main glacial features (striae, drumlins, meltwater channels) were formed.

The Anglesey i-Map is for school students, geography and Earth science teachers, undergraduates and academic researchers, as well as anyone interested in how the landscape around them evolved.

Glaciologists and Earth scientists are increasingly using a technique known as micromorphology to study the sediments (gravel, sand and mud) left behind as after a glacier or ice sheet has melted away.