Earth Science Collection

Database

Explore the rocks, minerals, fossils and archives in our collection

Earth Gallery

Exhibitions in our Earth Gallery

Our collectors

Meet the people behind the 140 years of our collection.

Access

Enquiries, research services and student project opportunities.

Visits

Collection visits and exhibitions.                                                   

Explore

Published specimens

A comprehensive overview of all type material and described or figured specimens. 

Our collectors

Meet the people who made valuable contributions to our collection.

The University of Bristol’s Earth Science Collection contains over 100,000 palaeontological, petrological and mineralogical samples of scientific and historical importance. This includes over 1600 type, figured and cited specimens, 10,000 geological thin sections and slides and an archive of international geological maps. An additional 16,000 handling specimens are available for teaching.

Etching our iron meteorite

Find out how we revealed the inner beauty of our largest meteorite sample.