Important collection of >37 000 rocks of historic and scientific value, incorporating the Former Reserve collection of the Geological Museum (South Kensington) but with recent additions, and includes many high (display) quality and unusual specimens. Extensive geographical and petrological coverage of UK, including historic quarry and mine samples; also sub-collections from overseas including Darwin's volcanic samples from Galapagos and Reunion, display sets of volcanics from several countries, Caribbean volcanic deposits from 1902, bauxite from Les Baux, monchiquite from Monchique, etc. Recent addition of c.600 samples from metaliferous mines in SW England (formerly kept at BGS Exeter office). Much of the collection was assembled in the 1930s at the new Geological Museum out of older material already in survey collections. Paper registers in accession sequence are supplemented by a local (PC-mounted) database currently covering almost 50% of the collection.
