The map shows the location and line-identifiers of reflection seismic profiles acquired by the former National Coal Board and British Coal during their exploration for coal in the UK. Ownership of UK coal exploration data was transferred to the Coal Authority following privatisation of the UK coal industry. The Coal Authority have appointed the British Geological Survey as custodian of this important national geological data archive. These data are, in general, publicly available; however, access to data within active mining licences is restricted in that it requires the consent of the mining licensee. The Coal Authority data archive includes hardcopy and digital data for the reflection seismic profiles, such as film and paper prints, original field tapes, demultiplexed data, processed stacked data, navigation (location) data and observers' and surveyors' acquisition reports. But please note that not all data types are available for all profiles. The BGS will be pleased to provide information on data availability for named profiles or within specified geographic areas, together with cost estimates and options for supplying copies.

The map shows the location and names of boreholes with digital geophysical logs acquired by the former National Coal Board and British Coal during their exploration for coal in the UK. Ownership of UK coal exploration data was transferred to the Coal Authority (Coal Authority) following privatisation of the UK coal industry. The Coal Authority have appointed the British Geological Survey as custodian of this important national geological data archive. These data are in general publicly available; however, access to data within active mining licences is restricted in that it requires the consent of the mining licensee. The Coal Authority data archive includes digital data for some of the geophysical borehole logging. These are mainly in the form of original field tapes; however, also available are some data transcribed onto more modern media during BGS projects. The BGS will be pleased to provide information on data availability for named boreholes or within specified geographic areas, together with cost estimates and options for supplying copies.

The map based index includes outlines for some 8,000 opencast coal prospecting sites dating from the 1940s until the mid 1990s. The index leads to information on the records of some 1 million boreholes (additional to those shown in the Borehole Records layer) drilled during site exploration and also the accompanying plans and other data, all filed in 3,618 boxes. The sites include those that have been drilled and not worked and also those that have been exploited. The original data, hardcopy maps, were received from the Coal Authority in 2001.