The study of sand and gravel resources in East Anglia: an example of the methods used in bulk mineral assessment

Since 1971 the British Geological Survey has published many maps and reports dealing with the distribution of sand and gravel resources in the United Kingdom. These resource assessments have required detailed field mapping and the drilling of thousands of shallow boreholes, while recent studies have also included geophysical surveying and the storage and manipulation of the assessment data by computer. The data although primarily collected for mineral planning purposes, nevertheless contain a vast quantity of information on which further research can be based. In particular many fossiliferous sequences have been located, from which much detail of the Quaternary climatic and ecological history of Britain has been revealed.