The SoilFit project is funded through the EPSRC Crime Initiative to investigate the potential of advanced analytical methods in providing soil forensic intelligence to police investigations.

Soil is a complex matrix of mineral and organic components. Clues as to the geographical origin and surrounding vegetation can be gained by identifying and characterising these components. Powerful analytical methods can be applied to eliminate or match soil evidence to a scene of crime (SOC) or an alibi location.

In 1904 soil evidence was formally presented in Germany by the forensic scientist Georg Popp. However, the application of soil evidence in criminal cases has been largely under-utilised. Today, advances in analytical methods provide opportunity to overcome analytical limitations such as sample size. Combining advanced soil fingerprinting methods, with spatially referenced soil databases, and rigorous statistical approaches, will potentially provide new tools for police intelligence.

The SoilFit project aims to:

1. test the potential of advanced soil fingerprinting methods to distinguish different soil types.
2. build a database of analytical data across a variety of soil types common to the UK landscape.
3. develop a 'decision support' tool to facilitate the selection of the most appropriate analytical methods based on the type and amount of available soil evidence.
4. develop rigorous statistical approaches to integrate fingerprinting data sets.
5. develop a prototype ‘soil matching’ tool capable of determining the most probable origin of soil evidence.
6. develop a GIS tool to refine search areas in crime investigation.
7. raise the awareness of the power of soil forensics in aiding criminal investigation.

The SoilFit team encompasses a large multi-disciplinary group of experts from across UK academic and law enforcement organisations. The project is complimented by the GIMI network (Geoforensics and Information Management for crime Investigation) also lead by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute.

Contact us for further information:

Lorna Dawson (PI),     Lynne Macdonald