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BGS Photograph Collection

Publisher
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Updated
28 August 2026
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

The official BGS photographic archive contains an estimated 300,000 photographs. The archive has been built up systematically since its founding in 1891 and is becoming a very popular educational resource for images of the geology of the UK and overseas. A wide range of topics is represented: field geology, landscapes, oblique aerial photographs, geohazards, marine operations, fossil, rocks and photomicrographs of rocks and minerals in thin section. In addition there are an estimated 225,000 photographs held with former groups, projects and individual geoscientists. The collections hold a diverse range of photographic material which includes black and white or colour negatives, transparencies and prints. The film formats range from 35mm to 10"X8" which includes both film and large format glass plates.

Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
BGS Homepage 28/8/2026

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
28 August 2026
Harvest GUID
9df8df51-63c7-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98
Dataset reference date (creation)
1891
Frequency of update
annually
Access constraints
The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.
Responsible party
British Geological Survey (distributor, originator, pointOfContact, custodian)
ISO 19139 resource type
nonGeographicDataset
Metadata language
eng

Contact

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

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