Geological collections

Rocks and fossils reveal how the world was back in deep time. They tell us of past hotter and colder climates, of cataclysmic events, and of the slow grind of the tectonic plates.  Fossil-rich sedimentary rocks provide valuable information on the evolution of life, past environments and the distribution of landmasses. Our collection contains over 200,000 individual rock and fossil specimens collected from Antarctica and the subantarctic islands and thousands of meters of sediment core from the surrounding seabed.

• UK Polar Data Centre team
• Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation team
• Research Development and Support team
• Geology and Geophysics team
• Browse the fossil collection
• Browse the UK Polar Sediment Core collection