Soil, Pollen and Diatoms
Aimee (Ash) Baish
,Soil and how its useful in forensics
• Soil is an organic material, that is made up of many different
components. (living organisms, water, gases, minerals, and organic
debris). It has many uses in forensics. This is because it is easily
transferable, meaning that it can be found almost everywhere. The
most common place to find soil, is on the soles of a person’s shoes
However, the next place you’d easily find it would be on their cloth
(if they were moved from where they were killed, or the suspects
clothes. As it is easily transferable, it can link a suspect to the crime
as if the soil found at the scene matches the soil found on a suspec
shoes, you know they were at the crime scene.
, Soil Profiles
• Soil profiles are the horizontal layers within the soil. These layers a
called soil horizons, and they are different for every area of land. T
order in which the soil horizons are developed is what changes. Th
main element that the soil is rich in also changes depending on the
area of origin. They also include the pH, and the appearance of the
soil (texture, colour, structure). These soil profiles are useful when
comes to forensics, as when looking at the soil profiles of different
areas you would be able to find which area matched the scene.
However, its quite hard to obtain the soil profile as you can’t really
see beneath the soil apart from the rock that usually follows, even
when you are looking at a grave scene.
Aimee (Ash) Baish
,Soil and how its useful in forensics
• Soil is an organic material, that is made up of many different
components. (living organisms, water, gases, minerals, and organic
debris). It has many uses in forensics. This is because it is easily
transferable, meaning that it can be found almost everywhere. The
most common place to find soil, is on the soles of a person’s shoes
However, the next place you’d easily find it would be on their cloth
(if they were moved from where they were killed, or the suspects
clothes. As it is easily transferable, it can link a suspect to the crime
as if the soil found at the scene matches the soil found on a suspec
shoes, you know they were at the crime scene.
, Soil Profiles
• Soil profiles are the horizontal layers within the soil. These layers a
called soil horizons, and they are different for every area of land. T
order in which the soil horizons are developed is what changes. Th
main element that the soil is rich in also changes depending on the
area of origin. They also include the pH, and the appearance of the
soil (texture, colour, structure). These soil profiles are useful when
comes to forensics, as when looking at the soil profiles of different
areas you would be able to find which area matched the scene.
However, its quite hard to obtain the soil profile as you can’t really
see beneath the soil apart from the rock that usually follows, even
when you are looking at a grave scene.
