Advances in Forensic Geochemistry

Abstract

This chapter is meant to give the state of the art of forensic geochemistry and recent advances. In terms of forensic organic geochemistry, detecting mature organic matter including polluting hydrocarbons follows an experimental procedure by using recent experimental analytical techniques. However, the interpretation of these results needs an understanding of the geochemical context to make a distinction between the natural and the human made origin of oil. Infrared data coupled with statistical analyses would have an important relevance for the detection of the pollution during the Anthropocene, which is marked an increasing human pollution reaching the level of environmental crimes. In terms of nuclear and isotopic forensic geochemistry, recent studies provided that nuclear forensics considers the fact that some measurable parameters or signatures are distinctive.