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BGS 1:253 440 Quarter-inch series geological maps

These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey quarter-inch to the mile series of maps, for England / Wales and Scotland. Most maps in this series show solid geology only, but there are a few drift maps within the New Series maps of England / Wales. There are three distinct series of quarter-inch maps: - Geological map of England and Wales. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440: Old Series (1889 - 1906). This is a set of hand-coloured maps which were published between 1889 and 1895 with later revisions. They were engraved onto copper. The series was issued as 15 sheets, where sheet 3 was an index to colours. - Geological map of England and Wales. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440: New Series (1906-1977). Following the popularity of the Old Series 'Quarter-inch' map, a New Series of colour-printed maps was issued. This was a long-lived series, with sheets still being published in the late 1970s. Maps were published between 1906–1977. The series was issued as 15 sheets, where sheet 3 was an index to colours. - Geological Survey of Scotland. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440 (1904-1977). These Scottish maps were published in parallel with the English / Welsh New Series, and was issued as 17 sheets. The quarter-inch mapping was superseded in the 1970s - 1980s by the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Series geological maps of the UK and Continental Shelf. Geological maps represent a geologist's compiled interpretation of the geology of an area. A geologist will consider the data available at the time, including measurements and observations collected during field campaigns, as well as their knowledge of geological processes and the geological context to create a model of the geology of an area. This model is then fitted to a topographic basemap and drawn up at the appropriate scale, with generalization if necessary, to create a geological map, which is a representation of the geological model. Explanatory notes and vertical and horizontal cross sections may be published with the map. Geological maps may be created to show various aspects of the geology, or themes. The most common map themes held by BGS are solid (later referred to as bedrock) and drift (later referred to as superficial). These maps are hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

Simple

Alternate title

BGS Quarter-inch geological maps

Date (Creation)
1847
Citation identifier
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608223
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

Owner

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

  • Geological surveys

  • Geology

  • Geological models

  • Geological mapping

  • Geological maps

  • Maps

  • UK Location (INSPIRE)

dataCentre
  • UK Location (INSPIRE)
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

Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Spatial representation type
Vector
Denominator
10560
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
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Begin date
1847 After
End date
1980 Before
Unique resource identifier
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84 (EPSG::4326)
Distribution format
Name Version

PDF file (.pdf)

Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

HTTP

https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/data/MapsPortal/

BGS Maps Portal

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

These geological maps were created by the Geological Survey from approximately the 1840s onwards. The paper maps were scanned to TIF image format at 300 dpi as part a scanning project from c. 2000 to the present day. JPEG2000 and PDF derivatives were created from the master TIF scans.

Metadata

File identifier
173df284-debd-1fba-e063-0937940a60d7 XML
Metadata language
English
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2025-08-20
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/13608223

 
 

Overviews

overview

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

UK Location (INSPIRE)


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