Special 4: Soil Forensics

Chair: Henk Kars
Co chair: Lida van den Eijkel

In recent years, soils and sediments have proved to be useful in obtaining evidence in three major areas of forensic investigation: (a) violation of environments through pollution and/or bad management, (b) in criminal investigation, particularly as sources of trace evidence and (c) as a place where human remains are buried and decay.

The solid phase of soil has two major components, inorganic material derived from pre-existing sediments and rocks, and organic materials, derived from living and dead organisms (plants, animals, and microbes). Groundwater and soil air may contain many substances and cause the dispersion of pollutants that can dissolve or evaporate.

Soil forensics is of a multidisciplinary nature. Many specialists have been involved in providing evidence for legal enquiries, including mineralogists, hydro- and other geologists, botanists, ecologists, palynologists, archaeologists and chemists. Geomorphology, landscape studies, and geophysics are also being used to aid investigations. This is reflected in the growing number of publications about all aspects of these fields.

We welcome (but do not limit) contributions about:

• Case histories on environmental crimes and liability with regards to waste disposal on and in soil, application of fertilizers and building materials, site remediation and earth movement.
• The potential of soil as a source of trace evidence in criminal investigations. Case histories exemplifying the value of specific techniques, or combination of techniques, for providing evidence suitable for court proceedings.
• Taphonomic processes associated with human remains: searches, analysis of burial sites, time since burial.
• Methodologies contributing to crime scene evaluation and sampling in natural, urban and industrial environments: protocols for sampling for evidential and comparative purposes, rapid field measurement techniques, (geo)statistics, GIS, aerial photography, geomorphology, etc.
• Methodologies for laboratory examination of all kinds of inorganic and organic materials, including anthropogenic materials and groundwater.
• The value and construction of databases which can facilitate interpretation of data obtained from casework.