Geophysical assessment of illegally buried toxic waste for a legal enquiry: A case study in Northern Ireland (UK)

Alastair Ruffell; Jamie K. Pringle; Conor Graham; Mike Langton; Glenda M. Jones

doi:10.1080/15275922.2018.1519740

Geophysical assessment of illegally buried toxic waste for a legal enquiry: A case study in Northern Ireland (UK)

Alastair Ruffell^*, Jamie K. Pringle, Conor Graham, Mike Langton, Glenda M. Jones

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Buried illegal waste and uncontrolled legal waste dumps are a major problem throughout the world, both in developing and more economically developed countries. Criminal investigations can effectively use geoscience techniques to better understand how to locate and characterize such waste. When a case is brought to the courts, the volume, areal extent of the likely waste and land ownership needs to be estimated. This article presents a brief overview of how the investigative process currently occurs and evidences the estimation of waste volume and land owner areas by a case study. The case study illustrates how a combination of geodetic topographic and near-surface geophysics surveys were used to both determine the amount of illegal waste present on a site and assess whose land (in this case, above or below High Tide Mark) the material had been buried on.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	239-252
Number of pages	14
Journal	Environmental Forensics
Volume	19
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/15275922.2018.1519740
Publication status	Published - 14 Nov 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Police Search Advisers and Crime Scene Investigators from the Police Service of Northern Ireland for assistance. The Geological Survey of Northern Ireland are acknowledged for providing local borehole and intrusive investigation reports. A 2003 SRIF3 grant supported the purchase of geophysical and survey equipment at Keele University. Two anonymous reviewers made speedy, very thorough, and helpful comments, for which the authors thank them.

Funding Information:
The Northern Ireland Environmental Agency is thanked for providing financial and logistical support for this project. A 2003 SRIF3 grant supported the purchase of geophysical and survey equipment at Keele University.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

geophysics
ground penetrating radar
Illegally buried waste
resistivity
security

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Waste Management and Disposal
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1080/15275922.2018.1519740Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

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abstract = "Buried illegal waste and uncontrolled legal waste dumps are a major problem throughout the world, both in developing and more economically developed countries. Criminal investigations can effectively use geoscience techniques to better understand how to locate and characterize such waste. When a case is brought to the courts, the volume, areal extent of the likely waste and land ownership needs to be estimated. This article presents a brief overview of how the investigative process currently occurs and evidences the estimation of waste volume and land owner areas by a case study. The case study illustrates how a combination of geodetic topographic and near-surface geophysics surveys were used to both determine the amount of illegal waste present on a site and assess whose land (in this case, above or below High Tide Mark) the material had been buried on.",

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AU - Jones, Glenda M.

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N2 - Buried illegal waste and uncontrolled legal waste dumps are a major problem throughout the world, both in developing and more economically developed countries. Criminal investigations can effectively use geoscience techniques to better understand how to locate and characterize such waste. When a case is brought to the courts, the volume, areal extent of the likely waste and land ownership needs to be estimated. This article presents a brief overview of how the investigative process currently occurs and evidences the estimation of waste volume and land owner areas by a case study. The case study illustrates how a combination of geodetic topographic and near-surface geophysics surveys were used to both determine the amount of illegal waste present on a site and assess whose land (in this case, above or below High Tide Mark) the material had been buried on.

AB - Buried illegal waste and uncontrolled legal waste dumps are a major problem throughout the world, both in developing and more economically developed countries. Criminal investigations can effectively use geoscience techniques to better understand how to locate and characterize such waste. When a case is brought to the courts, the volume, areal extent of the likely waste and land ownership needs to be estimated. This article presents a brief overview of how the investigative process currently occurs and evidences the estimation of waste volume and land owner areas by a case study. The case study illustrates how a combination of geodetic topographic and near-surface geophysics surveys were used to both determine the amount of illegal waste present on a site and assess whose land (in this case, above or below High Tide Mark) the material had been buried on.

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Geophysical assessment of illegally buried toxic waste for a legal enquiry: A case study in Northern Ireland (UK)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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