The Future of Geoforensics?

Since 2003, seven international meetings on forensics and geosciences, five text and research books have been published on forensic geology, and numerous papers on the use of Earth science methods in forensic investigations of crime, disaster and warfare have been published. Together, these can be used to demonstrate where Geoforensics has been and some likely avenues of research and application in the future. At the macro-scale, the increased use of landscape interpretation, integrated with geology, and based on advanced, multi-sensor remote sensing and geophysical devices, will enhance both the search for buried objects and sampling for forensic analysis. At the micro-scale, multi-proxy analysis of samples for exclusion and comparison will increasingly begin with non-destructive testing, followed by selected specialist work using mineralogy, geochemistry, crystallography and microbiology. Further advances may well come from the analysis of precipitation-based residues, atmospheric materials and cosmogenic fall-out. Geological techniques have the potential to be used on unusual materials used in fraud (fakes), drug and explosive manufacture and in construction. Integration with other scientific disciplines (engineering, biology, forensic sciences) is recommended.