BGS News Releases

New publication addresses security of supply concerns for vital rare earth raw materials

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT

The British Geological Survey today released a profile on rare earth elements. This comes amidst increasing concerns over the security of supply for natural resources, especially for high tech electronic, military and environmental applications.

Possibilities for storing carbon dioxide beneath the Moray Firth explored

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Sandstone rocks deep beneath the Moray Firth are being examined for the storage of carbon dioxide emissions. This is the first time a consortium of the Scottish Government and industry has funded (£290k) a study to test the suitability of a specific site for carbon storage.

Aerial pictures of the Icelandic volcanic eruption

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:00:00 GMT

Aerial photographs of the ash plume from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland have been released by the British Geological Survey (BGS). British geologists took the pictures whilst on the last flight from Reykjavik to Glasgow on Friday 16th April 2010 before UK airspace was closed again.

Seismic Alert: Southern Qinghai, China 13 April 2010, 23:47 UTC, 6.9 MW

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The following preliminary information is available for this earthquake:
DATE : 13 April 2010
ORIGIN TIME : 23:49 37s UTC
LAT/LONG : 33.271° North / 96.629° East
DEPTH : 10 km
MAGNITUDE : 6.9 Mw
LOCALITY : Southern Qinghai, China
COMMENTS : 240 km NNW of Qamdo, Xiang (Tibet)

Initial reports indicate that at least 300 people have been killed, thousands injured and many buildings damaged. This earthquake locates approximately 690 km WNW of the magnitude 7.9 Eastern Sichuan earthquake that occurred on 12 May 2008 that killed over 87,500 people.
View a PDF containing further information, seismograms of the event and a seismicity map of the area.

British Geological Survey Response to Gilmerton Scottish Parliament debate

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

A debate will take place in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday March 25th on the re-location to Nottingham of the UK continental shelf hydrocarbon cores and data currently housed at Gilmerton, Edinburgh. The motion, proposed by Mr Mike Pringle MSP, is below, and BGS's responses to the key points are appended.

BGS Seismic Alert : Eastern Turkey 08 March 2010 02:32 UTC 5.9

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:03:19 GMT

Depth 10km; Lat/Long 38.852° North,39.949° East;

Seismic interpretation of the Chile earthquake

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Scientists at the British Geological Survey (BGS) were alerted by their automatic earthquake location software 11 minutes after the earthquake struck Chile. Data has been received by the BGS from all over the world including seismic stations in the UK. Since then BGS seismologists have been examining the data and investigating why Chile was struck by an earthquake of this size.

The search is on to find the oldest mine map in the UK

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

As part of ongoing work to create a national Mining Plans Portal, the British Geological Survey (BGS) poses the question: do you have the oldest mine plan in Great Britain?

British Geologists on Great Barrier Reef Expedition

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:00:00 GMT

British Geological Survey staff set sail on the Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes Expedition (GBREC). As part of this international research effort, fossil coral reefs will be examined to understand how sea-level changed in the past and is likely to change in the future.

Free mineral exploration information from MineralsUK.com

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:00:00 GMT

The British Geological Survey (BGS) is making its mineral exploration archive available to download for free from MineralsUK.com. This will coincide with the relaunch of the website in early February 2010.