Publications: Excursion Guides; Maps; Papers
Want to find out more detail about the geology of Scotland, or a specific region? This page lists key resources for anyone who wants to delve into the detail. Suggestions for additions are welcome.
Excursion Guides
These are available for many regions of Scotland, including several guides published by the Edinburgh Geological Society jointly with National Museums Scotland.
Publications of the Edinburgh Geological Society
Quaternary Research Association Field Guides
Aberdeen Geological Society have recently updated the Excursion Guide to the Geology of E. Sutherland and Caithness, and also publish free, online, up-to-date field guides for the Aberdeen area >
The Earthwise digital publication channel of the British Geological Survey gives you access to many online resources, including excursion guides:
Scotland section of Earthwise.
Geological Maps
Geological maps for Scotland, up to 1:50,000 scale, are provided by the British Geological Survey via apps, online mapping and paper maps that are available to buy.
The BGS Geology viewer gives access to maps via a web browser. Zoom in to an area for 1:50,000 scale mapping. Superficial and Bedrock geology are available.
BGS online mapping is also available via GeoIndex (Onshore) and GeoIndex (Offshore). These resources are aimed at professional geologists, and are more comprehensive including faults and dykes, boreholes, collections, earthquakes, geochemistry, geophysics and hydrocarbon wells.
The BGS maps portal gives access to high resolution scans of almost all small and medium scale maps produced by the British Geological Survey since mapping started in 1832. It includes the key 1:63 360/1:50 000 maps for the UK. Paper copies of maps that are still in print are also available for purchase through the BGS online shop. For out of print maps BGS offers a ‘Print-on-Demand’ service.
Geology Papers
The Scottish Journal of Geology has traditionally acted as the focus for papers on all aspects of Scottish geology and its contiguous areas, including the surrounding seas. It is the joint publication, since 1965, of the Geological Society of Glasgow and the Edinburgh Geological Society. Prior to 1965 they published separate Transactions: Glasgow from 1860 and Edinburgh from 1863. The Transactions and the Scottish Journal of Geology are available online from the Lyell Collection.