Forensic geoscience is an increasingly important sub-disciplinewithin geoscience and forensic science. Although minerals, soils,dusts and rock fragments have been used as only begun to berecognized in the last ten years or so. The police and otherinvestigative bodies are keen to encourage such developmentsin the fight against crime, particularly since many criminalsshow a high level of forensic awareness with regard to evidencesuch as fingerprints, blood and other body fluids. The papersin this volume illustrate some of the main principles, techniquesand applications in current forensic geoscience, covering researchand casework in the UK and internationally. The techniques describedrange from macro-scale field geophysical investigations to micro-scalelaboratory studies of the chemical and textural properties ofindividual particles. In addition to forensic applications,many of these techniques have broad utility in geological, geomorphological,soil science and archaeological research.
