Earth Science Collection
Database
Explore the rocks, minerals, fossils and archives in our collection
Digital Futures
Digital gateways to exploring bio- and geodiversity data online
Earth Gallery
Exhibitions in our Earth Gallery
Explore
Explore the wide range of specimens and archives in our collection.
Access
Enquiries, research services and student project opportunities.
Visits
Collection visits and exhibitions.
Our collectors
Meet the people behind the 140 years of our collection.
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.