Geological Collection

William Smith Geological Map

Amber. The smaller pieces have been polished, the two larger pieces are unpolished. The amber at bottom right has an insect fossilised in it

Continental drift after 250 million years, showing the supercontinent of Pangea Ultima, which was named for the ancient supercontinent of Pangea

Geological Strata 19C
A schematic representation of geology and palaeontology

Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England. This curving limestone cliff feature was formed by glacial action. It used to have a waterfall running over it

Geological map of the British Islands. 1941

Geological map of Britain and Ireland
Fig 9 from Britain Before Man (1978), a Geological Museum publication

Krakatoa sunsets, 1883 artworks
Krakatoa sunsets. Artwork of the spectacular red and orange sunsets caused in London, England, by the August 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, a volcano thousands of kilometres away in Indonesia

Jenny Lake in front of the Teton range in the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States of America, North America

Seven Sisters Chalk Cliffs, and coastguard cottages, Cuckmere Haven, near Seaford, East Sussex, England

Apollo 17 astronaut. US astronaut and geologist Dr Harrison Schmitt exploring the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, as part of NASAs Apollo 17 mission

Barga, Italy
Barga. View from the mediaeval Tuscan town of Barga across the Serchio river valley, towards the summit of Pania Secca (1171 metres) in the Apuan Alps, Italy

Tenerife, satellite image. Satellite image of Tenerife showing Mount Teide (lower centre). Vegetation is green, and water is blue

Copper and magnesium sulphate, LM
Copper and magnesium sulphate crystals. Polarised light micrograph (LM) of copper sulphate (CuSO4) and magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) crystals

Earths tectonic plates. Global map showing the boundaries of the tectonic plates that make up the Earths crust. The eight major plates are the: African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Indian Plate

Virgils Tomb (1785). Wright, Joseph of Derby 1734-1797. Wright travelled in Italy from 1774-76 and produced many fine drawings of classical subjects and geological curiosities

First geological map of Britain, 1815 C016 / 5683
First geological map of Britain, detail of the north east coast (figure 8). This map was published in 1815 by British geologist William Smith (1769-1839)

Continental drift maps
Reconstruction of the map of the world for three periods according to the Displacement Theory. Figs 1-2 from The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1924) by Alfred Wegener

Geological unconformity on the river Jed. Plate 3 from Theory of the Earth (1795) Vol. 1, by James Hutton

Soil triangle diagram. This diagram is used to work out the type of soil in an area. A sample of soil is left to settle in water. Larger particles settle out of suspension faster than smaller ones

Aquamarine crystal. Aquamarine is a transparent blue or blue-green variety of beryl (beryllium aluminium silicate). The colour is due to trace amounts of iron within the crystal structure

Cornish tin mines, 19th century
Cornish tin mines, 19th-century artwork. These mines are in the parish of St Just in Penwith, Cornwall, UK. 19th-century tin mines in this area date back to 1721

Continental drift, 100 million years ago. Map of the Earth showing the continents some 100 million years after the start of the break-up of the ancient supercontinent of Pangea

Mountain Avens among Fossil coral on Parker Ridge, Banff National Park, Rockies, Canada
ROG-14054 Mountain Avens among Fossil coral on Parker Ridge, Banff National Park, Rockies, Canada Dryas octopetala Bob Gibbons Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

New Tredegar Colliery, Rhymney Valley, South Wales
An engine house damaged by subsidence at New Tredegar Colliery, Rhymney Valley, South Wales. This colliery suffered from many landslips and other geological problems, and eventually closed in 1930

Trilobite fossil. Fossil of a trilobite (Aristoharpes sp.) from the Devonian period (around 370 million years ago), showing the species characteristic, spade-like shape

Cave of Crystals, Naica Mine, Mexico
^BCave of Crystals.^b Geologist in the Cave of Crystals (^ICueva de los Cristales^i) in Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico. The crystals are the largest known in the world

The Giants Causeway rises out of the Atlantic late at night as the last light of the sun disappears below the horizon, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe

Seven Sisters Chalk Cliffs, Birling Gap, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom
Seven Sisters Chalk Cliffs, Birling Gap, East Sussex, England

The Giants Causeway, UNESCO World Heritage Site, County Antrim, Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe

Green Bridge of Wales, Pembrokeshire Coast, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

South ridge of Tryfan from Glyder Fach, Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

Geological Map of Oxfordshire
Delineation of Strata of Oxfordshire by William Smith

Birthstone Series: Amythest Quartz
An Amythest quartz specimen. Amythest is a form of quartz that is usually purple in colour, it is the birthstone for the month of March. Natural History Museum specimen number 84817

Continental Drift
The world 200 million years ago in Upper Triassic times, showing the single continent of Pangaea and the universal ocean, Panthalassa

William Smiths geological map
Part of William Smiths geological map of Great Britain, published in 1815

Coal forest diorama
A diorama of a Carboniferous coal forest (354 to 290 million years ago) previously on display at the former Geological Museum which is now part of the Natural History Museum, London

Standing stones. This is Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria, England. It is on the level top of a hill in the Lake District

Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars, artwork. The first of two identical NASA rovers, Spirit, landed on Mars on 4 January 2004

Northern Corries at dawn. View looking west just before sunrise across Coire an t-Sneachda (hollow area) to Coire Lochain. The ridge separating the two hollows is is the Fiacaill Ridge

Ammonite fossil. Ammonites are extinct marine invertebrates. They first appeared in the Late Silurian to Early Devonian period (around 400 million years ago)

Barbados, satellite image
Barbados. Landsat image of the island of Barbados in the Caribbean sea. North is at top. Barbados has a total land area of about 430 square kilometres

Polarised LM of a thin section of gabbro rock
Gabbro. Polarised light micrograph of a thin section of gabbro, an igneous rock. Gabbro is coarse-grained, containing the minerals olivine and plagioclase feldspar

Geological map, South-East England, 1830s. This map, dating from between 1830 and 1833, shows the denudation of The Weald

Oil well, 19th century
Oil well. Crude oil erupting from a wellhead in a 19th-century oil field. The wellhead is the structure used to contain and pump oil as it reaches the surface from deep underground, often, as here

The Jurassic Coast of Lyme Regis, Dorset

Venus radar map, North Pole
Venus radar map, centred on the Venusian North Pole. The map is colour-coded for altitude, going from low altitude (purple) through blue, green, yellow and orange to high altitude (red)

Bedruthan Steps, Newquay, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Continental drift diagrams
A) The continents 175 million years ago. B) The continents 50 million years ago. Figs 65 & 67 from The Age of the Earth. See also < a href= http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/results.asp

Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Green apophyllite from Jalgaon, India

Lunar surface, artwork
Lunar surface. Computer artwork of a view across the surface of the Moon towards Earth in the distance. The Moon has no atmosphere to scatter sunlight

Perovskite crystal structure. Perovskite is the name for the mineral calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). It forms a crystal structure that is very common in oxide minerals

Arches National Park, Utah, United States of America, North America

Calcareous phytoplankton fossil, SEM Z100 / 0213
Calcareous phytoplankton fossil. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fossil of the skeleton (coccosphere) of a coccolithotrope, a small marine algal organism

Martian landscape, artwork. Mars is a rocky desert world with no surface water. The red colour of the rocks is due to a high content of iron oxides

Giants Causeway. Columns of basalt rock at the Giants Causeway, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This site has been designated a World Heritage Site

Diamond, computer artwork
Cut and polished diamond, computer artwork. Diamond is a naturally occurring form of carbon that has crystallised under great pressure

Copper sulphate crystals, LM
Copper sulphate crystals. Polarised light micrograph (LM) of copper sulphate (CuSO4) crystals

Steppe-desert border, satellite image. North is at top. Arid areas of desert rock are brown, while grassy steppe areas are green. A small area of desert sands (yellow) is seen at far centre right

Ancient bristlecone pine trees on Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park
ROG-12244 Ancient bristlecone pine trees Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA Pinus longaeva Bob Gibbons Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

The huge caldera of the Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, United States of America, North America

Continental Drift
5 diagrams illustrating the positions of the continents 380 mya, 200 mya, 135 mya, 50 mya and the present

Aquamarine crystal. Aquamarine is a transparent blue or blue-green variety of beryl (beryllium aluminium silicate). The colour is due to trace amounts of iron within the crystal structure

Peridot. The specimens at top right and middle right are polished and the specimens at left are in their natural state. Peridot is a variety of the mineral olivine (magnesium iron silicate)

Mining Geological profiles lithograph 1895
Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition Vol I New York, Samuel Hall 1878

Sandy beach on Redfish Lake in a valley north of Sun Valley, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho, United States of America, North America

Davy experimenting at Vesuvius, 1819
Davy experimenting at Vesuvius. 19th-century artwork of British chemist Humphrey Davy (1778-1829) in 1819 carrying out experiments on the slopes of the volcano Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy

Roussanou Monastery at sunset, Meteora, Greece

Geological map of the European Alps, lithograph, published in 1897
Geological map of the European Alps. Lithograph, published in 1897

Milky Way above Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Grand County, Utah, United States of America, North America

The Queens Head rock formation at the Yehliu GeoPark, Wanli in Taiwan
The Queens Head rock formation at the Yehliu GeoPark, part of the Daliao Miaocene Formation in Wanli in Taiwan

Redfish Lake in a valley north of Sun Valley, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho, United States of America, North America

William Smiths Geological Map
Fig. 6 from Delineation of Strata of England and Wales (1815) by William Smith

Planets internal structures, and Pluto, computer artwork. Mercury, Mars and Venus consist of a large iron core (spherical), surrounded by a thick silicate mantle (yellow) covered in a surface crust

Nikolay Urvantsev, Soviet geologist
Nikolay Nikolayevich Urvantsev (1893-1985), Soviet geologist, speaking in public at his 80th birthday celebration. Urvantsev is best known for his exploration of northern Siberia and the Arctic

Richat Structure, satellite image. North is at top. Desert sands are pale yellow/white (top left and lower right), while less sandy, rocky areas are green, and volcanic rocks are blue

Cornish tin mining, 19th century
Cornish tin mining, 19th-century artwork. Miners working in a shaft in a tin mine in Cornwall, UK. Many such excavations were near the coast and extended out under the sea for nearly a kilometre

Apollo 17 sample of lunar basalt. The dark areas visible on the Moon (the lunar maria) are plains of flood basaltic lava flows

Dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era - China
An artificial reconstruction by Neave Parker (with the co-operation of Dr. W. E. Swinton) of Dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era found in China especially in the Provinces of Kansu and Szechuan

View of Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to H Long City, Cam Pha town

Aerial view of the San Juan River cutting through Raplee Anticline west of the town of Bluff, Utah

Olduvai Gorge landscape, Tanzania C015 / 6429
Olduvai Gorge landscape, Tanzania. This gorge (also called Oldupai Gorge) is famous for the fossils discovered here of extinct hominins that form part of the human evolutionary tree

Mars 96 surface station, artwork
Mars 96 surface station. Artwork showing one of the surface stations of the Russian Mars 96 mission landing on Mars after being released from orbit

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"Unveiling Earth's Ancient Secrets: A Journey through Geological Wonders" Embark on a captivating journey through time as we explore the fascinating world of geology. From William Smith's groundbreaking geological map to the awe-inspiring phenomenon of continental drift after 250 million years, every step reveals nature's hidden treasures. Marvel at the majestic Malham Cove in Yorkshire Dales, where towering limestone cliffs stand as a testament to millions of years processes. The intricate details captured in the geological map of Britain and Ireland showcase the diverse landscapes that have shaped our islands over centuries. Delve into history with a glimpse into 19th-century geological strata, unraveling layers upon layers of ancient stories etched within rocks. Jenny Lake stands serenely before the magnificent Teton range in Grand Teton National Park, reminding us how geology intertwines with breathtaking natural beauty across North America. Witness mankind's exploration beyond Earth as Apollo 17 astronauts ventured into space, capturing mesmerizing images that unveiled celestial bodies' geological wonders. Barga in Italy and Tenerife seen from satellite imagery offer glimpses into unique geological formations that leave us marveling at Mother Nature's artistry. Transport yourself back to 1883 when Krakatoa erupted, painting vibrant sunsets across skies worldwide - immortalized by artists who sought to capture this extraordinary display inspired by volcanic activity. The comprehensive British Islands' geological map unravels secrets buried deep beneath our feet while shedding light on their mineral wealth like copper and magnesium sulphate. Join us on this incredible expedition through time and space as we uncover Earth’s most remarkable geological phenomena – an adventure you won't want to miss.