• BGS Metadata Catalogue
  •   Search
  •   Map
  •  Sign in

BGS Geology 250k Bedrock version 4

Data identifying landscape areas (shown as polygons) attributed with geological names and rock type descriptions. The scale of the data is 1:250 00, providing a generalised geology. Onshore coverage is provided for all of England, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Bedrock geology describes the main mass of solid rocks forming the Earth's crust. Bedrock is present everywhere, whether exposed at surface in outcrops or concealed beneath superficial deposits or water bodies. The bedrock geology of Great Britain is very diverse and includes three broad classes based on their mode of origin: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. The data includes attribution to identify each rock type (in varying levels of detail) as described in the BGS Rock Classification Scheme (RCS) (volumes 1-3). The bedrock has formed over long periods of geological time, from the Archean Eon, some 3500 million years ago, to the relatively young Pliocene, 58 million years ago. The age of the rocks is identified in the data through their name in the BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units (published for each deposit at the time of the original survey or subsequent digital data creation). For stratified rocks, i.e. those arranged in sequence, this will usually be of a lithostratigraphic type. Other rock types (for example, intrusive igneous bodies) will be of a lithodemic type. More information on the formal naming of UK rocks is available in the BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Geological names are based on the lithostratigraphic or lithodemic hierarchy. The lithostratigraphic scheme arranges rock bodies into units based on rock type and geological time of formation. Where rock types do not fit into the lithostratigraphic scheme, for example intrusive rocks or deformed rocks subjected to heat and pressure, resulting in new or changed rock types; then their classification is based on their rock-type or lithological composition, using visible features such as texture, structure, mineralogy. The data are available in vector format (containing the geometry of each feature linked to a database record describing their attributes) as ESRI Shapefiles and are available under BGS data licence.

Simple

Date (Creation)
2005
Citation identifier
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13606375
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Distributor

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Point of contact
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

  • Bed rock

  • GIS

  • Digital maps

  • Geology

  • Data

  • UK Location (INSPIRE)

  • Maps

  • Citable Data

dataCentre
  • UK Location (INSPIRE)
  • Citable Data
Keywords
  • NERC_DDC

Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Other constraints
The dataset is made freely available for access, e.g. via the Internet. Either no third party data / information is contained in the dataset or BGS has secured written permission from the owner(s) of any third party data / information contained in the dataset to make the dataset freely accessible.
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other 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.

Other constraints

The dataset is made available to external clients under BGS Digital Data Licence terms and conditions. Revert to the IPR Section ( iprdigital@bgs.ac.uk) if further advice is required with regard to permitted usage.

Spatial representation type
Vector
Denominator
250000
Language
English
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
Geographic identifier
GBN

ISO 3166_2 2009 revision

Geographic identifier
GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

N
S
E
W
thumbnail




End date
2005 After
Unique resource identifier
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)
Distribution format
Name Version

ESRI Shapefile

Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/datasets/bgs-geology-250k/

BGS Datasets - BGS Geology 250K

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

WWW:LINK-1.0-http--related

https://doi.org/10.5285/0f5ca600-96d8-41f1-8f7d-11bdf580f66a

Citation Information - Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/datasets/bgs-geology/

BGS Geology: onshore digital geological map of Great Britain data

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other

dataset

Conformance result

Title

INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication)
2011
Explanation

See the referenced specification

Pass
No

Conformance result

Title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Explanation

See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Pass
No
Statement

Each 100 x 100 km digital tile is based on the latest BGS 1:250 000 scale UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator projection) bedrock or ‘solid’ geological map. This series was originally published between 1977 and 1993. Most of the onshore areas were compiled in the 1980s and are based, primarily, on earlier more detailed 1:50 000 (and one-inch to one-mile) geological maps published in the preceding decades and dating from the 1870s through to the 1980s. The source 1:250 000 published maps have a chronostratigraphical classification but were reclassified, as far as possible, with a lithostratigraphical nomenclature for the digital data. Some changes were made to the published lines to correct errors, improve the fit between maps, add formational boundaries or remove purely chronostratigraphical ones. The sources of information specific to each digital tile are available. The generalised geological lines were fitted to topographical bases compiled from Ordnance Survey 1:250 000 maps and Ministry of Defence, Joint Operations Graphic (JOG) sheets. The UTM series sheets were scanned and re-projected to OS British National Grid for digitising. For version 4 (release 2005), the digital data were re-tiled into 100 km squares and re-fitted to the OS Strategi coastline, and RCS (BGS Rock Classificiation Scheme) codes were added.

Metadata

File identifier
0600d0f5-2bca-5428-e054-002128a47908 XML
Metadata language
English
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2025-12-07
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Point of contact
Dataset URI

http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13606375

 
 

Overviews

overview

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

Citable Data UK Location (INSPIRE)


Provided by

logo

Share on social sites

Access to the catalogue
Read here the full details and access to the data.




  •   About
  •   Github
  •