This volume showcases recent geological, geophysical and geochemical research on the Carboniferous Bowland Shale Formation. The volume focuses on the key Carboniferous basins in the Midlands, northern England and North Wales. The Bowland Shale is perhaps the most controversial black shale unit in the UK. In the mid-2000s, attention turned to the Bowland Shale as a target for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration in the UK following success in the USA. This placed the Bowland Shale at the centre of a series of interconnected controversies and debates from the local to national scale. The geological credibility of the purported shale gas resource in the UK was – and continues to be – highly contentious. This volume contributes to a more updated view of the Bowland Shale, covering topics such as sedimentary, geochemical and physical properties and processes, basin-forming events, hydrocarbon prospectivity, mineralization and heat and fluid flow in the subsurface. The volume also includes a field guide to some of the key localities in the UK.