Forensic geoscience

Forensic geoscience encompasses many subdisciplines (forensic geology, forensic pedology (soil science), geophysics), all of which are centered on assisting in criminal, environmental, and humanitarian investigations. Some of them have prosecution by the courts as their end result, while some do not. The classic use of forensic geology is in examining whether a suspect or a victim had been at the scene of crime, from the nature of the soil/sediment on footwear, clothing, or vehicles. As this article shows, forensic geology, forensic geosciences, and their successor geoforensics now extend far beyond this use into questions of substituted and faked goods, best practice search methodology, and environmental crime.