Climate through time: our rocks reveal the story of change [Folded Map]

Climate change is nothing new

Earth's climate has changed throughout the billions of years of our planet's geological history. Evidence for past climates - including the extreme conditions linked to mass extinctions - can be found in the rocks around us.

Many rock-forming environments are directly influenced by climate. Were your local rocks formed in a desert, or a tropical swamp, or on a cold seabed? And what is the evidence that geologists use to tell this?

This poster map shows the rocks of Britain and Ireland in a new way – grouped and coloured according to the environment under which they were formed. Photographs illustrate modern-day environments, alongside images of the typical rock types which are formed in them. The ages of the rocks are shown in a timeline, which also shows global temperatures and sea levels changing through time. The changing positions of Britain and Ireland as they drifted northwards through geological time are illustrated too.

We hope that the poster map will foster an understanding of the Earth's climate and geology as a dynamic system – a system which has changed in response to extreme events in the past, and which will continue to respond to future changes.

It was jointly produced by the BGS, the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and the Geological Survey of Ireland. It has been endorsed by a range of teaching organisations – WJEC, OCR, The Association of Teaching Organisations of Ireland and the Earth Science Teachers Association. Although primarily intended as a teaching resource, the poster map will be of interest to anyone seeking to understand the imprint geological time has left in the rocks of our islands.

For more than 5 copies, please contact the Sales Desk; sales@bgs.ac.uk, as P&P rates will vary for larger quantities.

Full colour poster, A0 (841mm × 1189mm), folded.

Format Folded Map

ISBN 9780751835892

Scale 1:1 500 000

Year Published 2009