Automated mineralogical profiling of soils as an indicator of local bedrock lithology: a tool for predictive forensic geolocation
Correspondence: duncan.pirrie@southwales.ac.uk
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Published:October 14, 2021
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CiteCitation
Duncan Pirrie, Daniel E. Crean, Allan J. Pidduck, Timothy M. Nicholls, Roy P. Awbery, Robin K. Shail, 2021. "Automated mineralogical profiling of soils as an indicator of local bedrock lithology: a tool for predictive forensic geolocation", Forensic Soil Science and Geology, R. W. Fitzpatrick, L. J. Donnelly
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Abstract
The use of soil evidence to identify an unknown location is a powerful tool to determine the provenance of an item in an investigation. We are particularly interested in the use of these indicators in nuclear forensic cases, whereby identification of locations associated with, for example, a smuggled nuclear material, may be used to indicate the provenance of a find. The use of soil evidence to identify an unknown location relies on understanding and predicting how soils vary in composition depending on their geological/geographical setting. In this study, compositional links between the mineralogy of 40 soils and the underlying...
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Forensic Soil Science and Geology
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Forensic soil science and geology provides information and operational support to assist the police and law enforcement with criminal and environmental investigations. These include: crime scene examination and the collection of soil and other materials; analysis and interpretation of this geological trace evidence; and searches associated with homicide graves, counter-terrorism and serious and organized crime. This volume provides new and sophisticated field and laboratory methods and operational casework.
GeoRef
- alteration
- bedrock
- chemical weathering
- Cornwall England
- Devon England
- EDS spectra
- electron microscopy data
- England
- Europe
- forensic geology
- Great Britain
- indicators
- metamorphism
- mineral composition
- modal analysis
- parent materials
- pedogenesis
- provenance
- SEM data
- soils
- spectra
- United Kingdom
- weathering
- Western Europe
- X-ray spectra
- Lizard Complex
- QEMSCAN