Geology, collections, maps, books

The BGR collection, Berlin-Spandau Source: BGR

Our Planet Earth is our livelihood. Its natural resources are limited and natural hazards are influencing our live.

Geoscientific data and information are a pre-requisite for the discovery of natural resources and for evaluating natural hazards. BGR facilitates such through our vast collections and core repositories, which include all kinds of rocks, minerals and fossils. Geoscientific maps, geoinformation systems and our archive and library, with their reports, publications, journals and books complement the information basis.

Geological data are essential for almost all aspects of our modern life. They are needed to guaranteeing potable water, to discovering oil and gas and to exploiting resources, which are needed to build our roads, bridges and buildings. In order to assess geological risks such as land slides, volcanic eruptions and floods, geoinformation is indispensible.

The collection and core repositories of BGR are the base of the geological information we provide. As such, the collection documents the history and geology of our earth and its resources by including a vast collection of rocks, minerals, ore, fossils and drill cores.

The data and results deriving from numerous investigations in the field and on the material stored in our collection are homogenized and synthesized at BGR , by our expert scientists. It is our goal to offer our collections and data in a way, which enables the public to use our publications, reports, interactive applications, digital and printed maps. Besides BGR 's own products offers the Geocentre Hannover hosts the largest geoscientific library and archive in Western Europe, by including more than 600.000 books, journals, maps and reports. The library is open to the public and offers considerable service to their users.