Offshore operations - history, British Geological Survey

Introduction offshore operations in BGS

The following are excellent introductions to offshore operations in BGS:

On the shelf: geology beneath the waves - MediaWiki (bgs.ac.uk)

Fannin, N G T. 1989. Offshore investigations 1966-87. British Geological Survey Technical Report WB/89/2.

Timeline

Date	Event
	Airborne magnetometer lines for land areas of the United Kingdom. Captures some adjacent offshore areas
1966	Geophysical Department undertook some follow up work on anomalies revealed by the above airborne magnetometer lines in Loch Ewe in western Scotland and in the Moray Firth using a towed magnetometer and a shallow seismic profiling system.
	R A Eden and J D Peacock, both enthusiastic scuba divers from the Edinburgh Office, undertook sea-bottom sampling and coring with self-contained diving equipment.
1966	Programme of curation and correlation of records and samples from commercial hydrocarbon exploration boreholes in the North Sea, on behalf of the Ministry of Fuel and Power, initiated by two members of the Yorkshire and East Midlands Field Unit.
1967	Formation of a Continental Shelf Unit I in Leeds, to study the southern North Sea and the Irish Sea.
1967	Continental Shelf Unit I at Leeds started work on a bottom-sampling programme in the Irish Sea
1967	Nucleus of a Continental Shelf Unit II created at the end of the year in Edinburgh as part of the South Lowlands Field Unit
1967–1968	Reconnaissance survey work began in the Irish Sea and continued in 1968
1968	Geophysical Division, took part in a sedimentological investigation of the Humber estuary, planned by the Humber Estuary Research Committee, which included representatives of the Humber Conservancy Board, British Transport Docks Board and Hydraulics Research Station.
1968	Marine Geophysics Unit formed from part of the Geophysical Division
1969	Continental Shelf Unit II established as separate unit based at Granton.
1969	Work in the Firths of Clyde and Forth and in the Sea of the Hebrides by Continental Shelf Unit II
1969	Association with MV Whithorn began and Continental Shelf Unit I and II began systematic sampling programme on the sea floor around the UK.
1974	Continental Shelf Unit I and II transferred from the Field Divisions to the Geophysics Division became Continental Shelf and Geophysical Division.
1976	Continental Shelf Units I and II and the Marine Geophysics Unit were reformed as the Continental Shelf Division under John Wright.
1979	Two principal programmes established to support Department of Energy requirements. 1. BGS Hydrocarbons Programme. Collation, curation and interpretation of seismic data, cores and samples supplied by the licencees to DEn under the Petroleum and Pipelines Act (1975) and related legislation. 2. Regional Mapping Programme (RMP) Marine Geology Programme and the Marine Geophysics and Offshore Services Programme. The direct acquisition of data, leading to the preparation and publication of a series of geological and geophysical maps and associated reports of the UK offshore area.
1980	Continental Shelf Unit I and II amalgamated into the new Marine Geology Unit, still based at Leeds and Edinburgh.
1982	Marine Geology Unit took over the whole of Grange Terrace building in Edinburgh.