BGS Website Updates

Permitting and regulation of shale gas operations

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Exploration and production of shale gas from onshore UK requires the operator to obtain licenses from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The operator must also meet a number of strict regulatory requirements set by the Environment Agency (EA) or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland).

The operator must also obtain planning permission from the relevant local authority to permit the surface operations required to explore for and extract shale gas.).

More about Permitting and regulation of shale gas operations

Our data | Free, licensed and premium services

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

The BGS is a data-rich organisation with over 400 datasets in its care including environmental monitoring data, digital databases, physical collections (borehole core, rocks, minerals and fossils), records and archives.

Search our data collections for our free services in OpenGeoscience, our licensed datasets in Digital products or our premium data services including GeoRecords or GeoReports.

Darwin's 'lost' fossils | Hooker slides

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Recently, a collection of 'unregistered fossil plants' was found in one of the Survey's windowless vaults in Keyworth, in central England.

These comprise hundreds of beautiful thin sections of fossil wood dating from the early nineteenth century.

The collection was assembled by botanist Joseph Hooker (Darwin's best friend) while he was briefly employed by the Survey in 1846.

More about Joseph Hooker

Geophysical baselines

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:00 GMT

The project undertakes the maintenance and delivery of non-seismic UK geophysical data together with relevant research on geoscientific, environmental and resource applications.

Transport geotechnics and geophysics

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT

The BGS is working with industry and academia to develop geoscience tools for strategic railway planning and performance monitoring that includes:

Efficient rail performance requires that constant and level rail track geometry be maintained. The geotechnical properties of the subgrade — the native material or bedrock underneath the track — exert huge control over the performance of our railway network.

Rock fall at Porthkerry, Barry, South Wales, 31 October 2011

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

At around 22:30 on Monday 31 October 2011 a rock fall occurred on the sea cliff at the Porthkerry Leisure Park, a static caravan site, near Barry, South Wales.

Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project (DISP)

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

The Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project (DISP) is a web-based, open access, digital resource for stratigraphy.

The project aims to eliminate stratigraphic ambiguity associated with sample position within a stratigraphic section.

More about the Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project

Katla volcano, Iceland

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 GMT

The Katla volcanic system, in southern Iceland, comprises a central volcano and a fissure system. It is partly covered by the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, which infills the c. 650 m-deep summit caldera. Katla is one of Iceland s more active volcanoes.

Katla has had about 20 eruptions in the last 1100 years, with major glacial floods (jökulhlaups) accompanying observed eruptions. The durations of documented eruptions range from two weeks to four months.

More about Katla volcano, Iceland

SENSOR NET: a network of semi-wireless sensors for studying soil moisture

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:00:00 GMT

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of scale on soil moisture.

Location index for chemical data in environmental samples

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:00:00 GMT

G-BASE geochemical samples can be displayed in Google Earth using KML files. Information downloaded from the BGS corporate Geochemistry Database is converted into standardised data files, classified by country (England, Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland) and sample type (topsoil, deep soil, stream sediment and stream water).

Location index for chemical data in environmental samples