Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xl

   PDF

2. Concepts

   1. “Soils Ain't Soils”: Context and Issues Facing Soil Scientists in a Forensic World

      • James Robertson

      Pages 3-12

   2. Expert Scientific Evidence in Court: The Legal Considerations

      • Derek P. Auchie

      Pages 13-31

   3. Some Thoughts on the Role of Probabilistic Reasoning in the Evaluation of Evidence

      • Colin G. G. Aitken

      Pages 33-47

   4. Microbial Community Profiling for the Characterisation of Soil Evidence: Forensic Considerations

      • George F. Sensabaugh

      Pages 49-60

   5. The Current Status of Forensic Soil Examination in the Russian Federation

      • Olga Gradusova, Ekaterina Nesterina

      Pages 61-73

   6. Characterisation and Discrimination of Urban Soils: Preliminary Results from the Soil Forensics University Network

      • Andrew R. Morrisson, Suzzanne M. McColl, Lorna A. Dawson, Mark J. Brewer

      Pages 75-86

   7. Environmental Considerations for Common Burial Site Selection After Pandemic Events

      • Anna Williams, Tracey Temple, Simon J. Pollard, Robert J. A. Jones, Karl Ritz

      Pages 87-101

3. Evidence

   1. A Systematic Approach to Soil Forensics: Criminal Case Studies Involving Transference from Crime Scene to Forensic Evidence

      • Rob W. Fitzpatrick, Mark D. Raven, Sean T. Forrester

      Pages 105-127

   2. Forensic Ecology, Botany, and Palynology: Some Aspects of Their Role in Criminal Investigation

      • Patricia E. J. Wiltshire

      Pages 129-149

   3. Sediment and Soil Environmental Forensics: What Do We Know?

      • Stephen M. Mudge

      Pages 151-162

   4. Petrography and Geochemical Analysis for the Forensic Assessment of Concrete Damage

      • Isabel Fernandes, Maarten A. T. M. Broekmans, Fernando Noronha

      Pages 163-180

   5. Tracing Soil and Groundwater Pollution with Electromagnetic Profiling and Geo-Electrical Investigations

      • Kristine Martens, Kristine Walraevens

      Pages 181-194

   6. Geoforensics

      1. Locating Concealed Homicide Victims: Developing the Role of Geoforensics

         • Mark Harrison, Laurance J. Donnelly

         Pages 197-219

      2. Geological Trace Evidence: Forensic and Legal Perspectives

         • Antoinette Keaney, Alastair Ruffell, Jennifer McKinley

         Pages 221-237

      3. New Observations on the Interactions Between Evidence and the Upper Horizons of the Soil

         • Ian Hanson, Jessica Djohari, Jennifer Orr, Patricia Furphy, Claire Hodgson, Georgina Cox et al.

         Pages 239-251

      4. The Forensic Analysis of Sediments Recovered from Footwear

         • Ruth M. Morgan, Jeanne Freudiger-Bonzon, Katharine H. Nichols, Thomas Jellis, Sarah Dunkerley, Przemyslaw Zelazowski et al.

         Pages 253-269

      5. Using Soil and Groundwater Data to Understand Resistivity Surveys over a Simulated Clandestine Grave

         • John R. Jervis, Jamie K. Pringle, John P. Cassella, George Tuckwell

         Pages 271-284

      6. Spatial Thinking in Search Methodology: A Case Study of the ‘No Body Murder Enquiry’, West of Ireland

         • Jennifer McKinley, Alastair Ruffell, Mark Harrison, Wolfram Meier-Augenstein, Helen Kemp, Conor Graham et al.

         Pages 285-302

      7. Localisation of a Mass Grave from the Nazi Era: A Case Study

         • Sabine Fiedler, Jochen Berger, Karl Stahr, Matthias Graw

         Pages 303-314

Soils have important roles to play in criminal and environmental forensic science. Since the initial concept of using soil in forensic investigations was mooted by Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories prior to real-world applications, this branch of forensic science has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. New techniques in chemical, physical, biological, ecological and spatial analysis, coupled with informatics, are being applied to reducing areas of search by investigators, site identification, site comparison and measurement for the eventual use as evidence in court. Soils can provide intelligence, in assisting the determination of the provenance of samples from artifacts, victims or suspects, enabling their linkage to locations or other evidence. They also modulate change in surface or buried cadavers and hence affect the ability to estimate post-mortem or post-burial intervals, and locate clandestine graves. This interdisciplinary volume explores the conceptual and practical interplay of soil and geoforensics across the scientific, investigative and legal fields. Supported by reviews, case-studies from across the world, and reports of original research, it demonstrates the increasing convergence of a wide range of knowledge. It covers conceptual issues, evidence (from recovery to use in court), geoforensics, taphonomy, as well as leading-edge technologies. The application of the resultant soil forensics toolbox is leading to significant advances in improving crime detection, and environmental and national security.

• AgroMicro
• Applied geoscience
• Arten
• Criminal Forensics
• Environmental Forensics
• Forensic Science
• Sediment
• Soil Science
• ecology
• soil

From the reviews: “This is a fine volume with an excellent collection of papers. It should be of interest to anyone looking for a series of papers that provide insight into where the field of forensic soil science is today and where it might be tomorrow. The index is very useful. The illustrations are well done and useful; the color photos are excellent. References in the individual papers are up to date, and the abstracts are universally well written.” (Ray Murray, Vadose Zone Journal, Vol. 9 (1), February, 2010)

• National Soil Resources Institute Natural Resources Department, School of Applied Sciences Cranfi eld University, Cranfield, UK

  Karl Ritz

• The Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, UK

  Lorna Dawson, David Miller