Biomolecular Analyses to Complement Mineral-Based Forensic Geoscience Approaches In Distinguishing Urban Land-Use Types.

Soil-based materials found during forensic enquiry can provide powerful intelligence relating to provenance. Traditionally, mineralogy and palynology have been used to provide complementary information on geology and plant community structure from soil. We evaluated the potential of plant wax compounds and microbial DNA profiles in providing land-use based intelligence within two localized urban study areas. Soil physico-chemical, mineralogical, spectroscopic and n-alkane profiling did not provide data characteristic of land-use. Bacterial DNA analysis was indicative of land-use and correlated to physico-chemical drivers. Soil fatty-alcohol and fungal DNA analyses provided the most promising indicators of broad-scale land-use category, providing independent and complementary information to mineral-based analyses. These results demonstrate the potential of soil fatty-alcohol and fungal analyses as screening approaches to complement mineralogy in gaining forensic intelligence from soil samples.