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e-Science : July 2012 Issue 2
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FORENSIC EARTH SCIENCE RESOURCES FEATURE CASE STUDY 1 Hit-Run suspect flees scene of crime through a stream Suspect’s shoes show traces of yellow clayey soil, which originated from the stony/gravelly soil submerged in the stream. Although the black coloured soil in the stream comprised 95% alluvial stone and coarse gravel with only 5% clay and silt, a sufficient amount of fine yellowish clayey soil (less than 50 micrometres in size) was recovered by sieving. XRD analysis is carried out on the sieved fine soil material. The shape and colour as well as the mineral composition closely resembles the fine soil material that was tightly trapped in grooves and treads in the rubber sole of the suspect’s shoe. The naked eye could not reveal the yellow-brown colour of the fine 5% clay and the silt fractions (less than 50 micrometres in size) hidden in the extremely stony/ gravelly soil until the sample was sieved and the fine fraction concentrated. The suspect was charged, convicted and imprisoned without need for a costly and time consuming trial. HAVE A QUESTION? / FEEDBACK: e-science.magazine@adelaide.edu.au 53
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