Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics

I. Concepts

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

2. Expert Scientific Evidence in Court: The Legal Considerations
Derek P. Auchie

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

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

5. The Current Status of Forensic Soil Examination in the Russian Federation
Olga Gradusova, Ekaterina Nesterina

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

7. Environmental Considerations for Common Burial Site Selection After Pandemic Events
Anna Williams, Tracey Temple, Simon J. Pollard, Robert J. A. Jones, Karl Ritz

II. Evidence

8. 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

9. Forensic Ecology, Botany, and Palynology: Some Aspects of Their Role in Criminal Investigation
Patricia E. J. Wiltshire

10. Sediment and Soil Environmental Forensics: What Do We Know?
Stephen M. Mudge

11. Petrography and Geochemical Analysis for the Forensic Assessment of Concrete Damage
Isabel Fernandes, Maarten A. T. M. Broekmans, Fernando Noronha

12. Tracing Soil and Groundwater Pollution with Electromagnetic Profiling and Geo-Electrical Investigations
Kristine Martens, Kristine Walraevens

13. Locating Concealed Homicide Victims: Developing the Role of Geoforensics
Mark Harrison, Laurance J. Donnelly

14. Geological Trace Evidence: Forensic and Legal Perspectives
Antoinette Keaney, Alastair Ruffell, Jennifer McKinley

15. 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, Gemma Broadbridge

16. The Forensic Analysis of Sediments Recovered from Footwear
Ruth M. Morgan, Jeanne Freudiger-Bonzon, Katharine H. Nichols, Thomas Jellis, Sarah Dunkerley, Przemyslaw Zelazowski, Peter A. Bull

17. 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

18. 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, Lorraine Barry

19. Localisation of a Mass Grave from the Nazi Era: A Case Study
Sabine Fiedler, Jochen Berger, Karl Stahr, Matthias Graw

III. Taphonomy

20. Research in Forensic Taphonomy: A Soil-Based Perspective
Mark Tibbett, David O. Carter

21. Can Temperature Affect the Release of Ninhydrin-Reactive Nitrogen in Gravesoil Following the Burial of a Mammalian (Rattus rattus) Cadaver?
David O. Carter, David Yellowlees, Mark Tibbett

22. Taphonomic Changes to the Buried Body in Arid Environments: An Experimental Case Study in Peru
Robert C. Janaway, Andrew S. Wilson, Gerardo Carpio Díaz, Sonia Guillen

23. Decomposition Studies Using Animal Models in Contrasting Environments: Evidence from Temporal Changes in Soil Chemistry and Microbial Activity
Kathryn L. Stokes, Shari L. Forbes, Laura A. Benninger, David O. Carter, Mark Tibbett

24. Microbial Community Analysis of Human Decomposition on Soil
Rachel A. Parkinson, Kerith-Rae Dias, Jacqui Horswell, Paul Greenwood, Natasha Banning, Mark Tibbett, Arpad A. Vass

IV. Technology

25. Analysis of Soils in a Forensic Context:Comparison of Some Current and Future Options
G. Stewart Walker

26. Automated SEM-EDS (QEMSCAN®) Mineral Analysis in Forensic Soil Investigations: Testing Instrumental Reproducibility
Duncan Pirrie, Matthew R. Power, Gavyn K. Rollinson, Patricia E. J. Wiltshire, Julia Newberry, Holly E. Campbell

27. Rapid, Reliable and Reviewable Mineral Identification with Infrared Microprobe Analysis
Brooke A. Weinger, John A. Reffner, Peter R. Forest

28. Preservation and Analysis of Three-Dimensional Footwear Evidence in Soils: The Application of Optical Laser Scanning
Matthew R. Bennett, David Huddart, Silvia Gonzalez

29. Discrimination of Domestic Garden Soils Using Plant Wax Compounds as Markers
Robert W. Mayes, Lynne M. Macdonald, Jasmine M. Ross, Lorna A. Dawson

30. Environmental Forensic Investigations: The Potential Use of a Novel Heavy Metal Sensor and Novel Taggants
Pat Pollard, Morgan Adams, Peter K. J. Robertson, Konstantinos Christidis, Simon Officer, Gopala R. Prabhu, Kenneth Gow, Andrew R. Morrisson

31. Separation and Concentration of Trace Evidence from Soils Using a Hydropneumatic Elutriation Trace Evidence Concentrator (TEC)
Alvin J. M. Smucker, Jay A. Siegel

V. Postscript

32. Soils in Forensic Science: Underground Meets Underworld
A. David Barclay, Lorna A. Dawson, Laurance J. Donnelly, David R. Miller, Karl Ritz

Keywords: Biomedicine, Forensic Science, Applied Earth Sciences, Soil Science & Conservation, Biogeosciences, Forensic Medicine, Criminology & Criminal Justice