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.
Fossils from the Antarctic
Access to online British Antarctic Survey fossil collection
Fossil database
Browse the fossil collection.
Fossil locations in Antarctica
An archive of Earth's history revealed
British Antarctic Survey Geological Collection
Explore the Antarctic rock collection online. Many of these specimens are stored at BAS and are available for academic research.
Sediment core collection
The Polar Sediment Core Facility holds cores collected across Antarctica, the polar oceans, and sub-Antarctic islands.
Rock
Travel back through geological time
