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Despite widespread concern over missing persons, there has always been little clarity on what the word “missing” means. Although the category of young runaways is, indeed, an important cluster, other popular concepts related to disappearances describe a portion of missing persons. Thus, the following question persists: What exactly does “missing” mean? In this brief communication, we would like to open a discussion about the social phenomenon of missing persons and the consequent deployment of people and techniques to find those persons. In particular, the benefits of some forensic geoarchaeological approaches that are not yet fully standardized will be highlighted, such as geographic profiling and the use of multispectral satellite images, in order to provide materials for future searching protocols.

This paper outlines the construction of a White Paper on Geoethics in Forensic Geology. It focuses on forensic geology, although it also relates to the wider sphere of the forensic geosciences. Forensic geology is rapidly evolving to provide assistance in police investigations and in criminal and civil courts with providing scientific advice and evidence, but there also should be associated clear guidelines to benefit both the practitioner and the justice system. Examples of where forensic geology delivers to society in a vital way are required and also where potential malpractice could happen. The paper discusses where forensic geology should pursue social justice in compliance with current legal systems. In order to achieve this goal, it outlines the main areas that we suggest should be developed within the discipline: the competence of the scientist in forensic geology; the creation of best practice guidelines; the establishing of clear duties of the expert in forensic geology; and consideration of ethical aspects in forensic geological activities and ethical aspects in communicating geoscience evidence. When developing geoethics within forensic geology, the following practices were identified as of prime importance: improved standardization of methods; the use of appropriate methods and/or combination of complementary methods; greater clarity of approach used for the location of areas of interest; collection and recovery of evidence; scene examination and sample collection evaluation of data; construction and appropriate use of databases, background information, documentation, cartography and communication of forensic data; and summary of evidence and acknowledgement and consideration of uncertainty and bias. Honesty, integrity, respect, transparency, competence and reliability are vital for the forensic geoscientist to adhere to. Raising the ethical profile of the forensic geoscience profession aims to pave the way for forensic geoscientists to be empowered now and into the future to serve society: acting responsibly and adopting effective ethical codes is vitally important for a safe society. This paper highlights the necessity to hold urgent discussions on the ethical and social implications of forensic geology and their potential repercussions on societal justice. Forensic geology is a very useful tool, but like any other tool in human hands, it presupposes responsibility in its application. Professionalism and honesty in forensic geology are fundamental to assure the public that geoscientists involved have the highest scientific respectability, social credibility and community respect for their role to help pursue judicial truth. The aim of this draft White Paper is to stimulate an open and informed debate on geoethics.

At a time in which several law enforcement agencies all around the world are facing severe expenditure reviews, the increasing use of low-cost solutions during crime scene investigations (CSI) can be a sustainable solution without being detracting from a scientific and rigorous forensic approach. Recently, some private companies are trying to satisfy the growing needs of the police to have cheaper and faster techniques to survey crime scenes and to obtain results with scientifically high-level outputs, more or less comparable with similar outputs from more expensive instruments. This paper reported results from a crime scene in which a low-cost GPR instrument, a free 3D photogrammetry software, and an open-source geographical information system (GIS) were deployed. The collection, processing, and analyses of these data will provide a very promising starting point for future low-cost and professional applications.

Geological materials, such as gems, precious stones, precious metals, rare fossils, and archeological objects, are extremely attractive to organized crime because of their high economic value, small size, and non-traceability. Because of the traceability of bank transactions at international levels, criminal organizations are using precious means of exchange for traffic in arms and drugs, for money laundering, and for illegal trade. In addition to these crimes, precious geological materials are often falsified, forged, and imitated by methods that have reached such advanced techniques as to produce specimens almost perfectly identical to their natural counterparts, to the point that it is not easy to distinguish the differences.

Forensic geology has developed in each country dependent on the history, political and social setting, anthropological influences and geology. The aim of this section is to provide a global overview of forensic geology, including the history, developments and future challenges in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Russia and Commonwealth Independent States (CIS), and USA.

Pedology forensic research studies and analyzes traces of geological debris and loose materials connected to a crime, in order to provide assistance to the judicial police activities and to obtain evidence useful in carrying out an investigation. In the context of forensic analysis, such materials are commonly referred to by the term ‘soil’ and include sand, mud, soil in the strict sense, etc. This chapter treats the characteristic of forensic soil and the issues related to the traces of soil. The site survey activities in forensic soil science applications and the collection of soil trace evidence and their preservation are also dealt with the following pages.

The characterization of geological materials envisages, in general, the use of a few analytical techniques targeted to the kind of result to be achieved. The characterization of soils, however, requires a greater number of targeted analysis to obtain suitable information for the comparison of multiple samples, and for the determination of a likely area of provenance. The examination of soils must be carried out following ad hoc analytical procedures which have a logical sequence and that are able to better characterize the samples on the basis of their distinctive elements.

Geological materials, being the main constituents of the Earth's surface, regularly coming into contact with persons or are voluntarily also used in illegal activities or during the course of a crime, and they sometimes can play a primary role as evidence. This chapter covers the more significant geological materials associated with forensic investigations and it also illustrates their genetic composition and evolutionary modalities, and the way they are typically involved in criminal cases.

Forensic geoscience encompasses many branches of the Earth Sciences whose applications may provide a suitable environmental interpretation of the surroundings, in the context of numerous types of offences, both criminal and civil. A historical overview, the forensic applications of the different branches of geoscience, and the geo-scientific approach to crime scene are treated in this chapter with the purpose to introducing the reader to the main topics of the book.

In a judicial investigation, the evidence provided by pedological materials can have significant evidential value. The forensic geologist is able, in many instances, to obtain compatible results from pedological materials, and anthropogenic fragments in soil, by combining a variety of analytical methods. However, it must be noted that soil trace evidence can be modified during its transfer to an object, and after its deposition. This aspect needs to be considered when processing and interpreting the analytical data. In this paper, three cases are presented which exemplify the use of geological traces and anthropogenic materials in a criminal investigation.

The so-called ‘CSI effect’ was recently observed in the Italian judicial system. The reason for the increase in instances of this effect is the lack of a standard geo-archaeological procedure in conducting a forensic investigation. To avoid the harmful consequences of this lack of standardisation, it is necessary to develop a robust geo-archaeological protocol for use during every crime scene investigation.

X-ray Diffractometry is a very useful analytical technique to achieve detailed information about the crystal structure and mineralogical composition, qualitative and quantitative, of matter. It is a technique that exploits the interaction between solid matter and X-rays that, converged on a substance, are diffracted. The outgoing X-rays, on the basis of the wavelength of the incident beam and according to the path within the analyzed sample provide information on fundamental param- eters of the crystalline state as the distance of the lattice planes and the parameters of the elementary cell. The analytical result is called diffraction pattern containing a series of peaks that show the intensity and angular position of the diffracted X-rays. Typically, a diffraction pattern represents, for individual minerals, a kind of distinct fingerprint and can be used to easily identify the material or distinguish it from others, especially with the use of modern databases. X-Ray Diffractometry can be successfully used in a variety of fields: building materials, geological sam- ples, environmental pollutants and increasingly by forensic sciences as a scientific aid for the analysis of evidence from crime scenes.

This chapter offers an overview of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Microanalysis fundamentals using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS). The main technical features and steps necessary to acquire high-resolution images and obtain reliable chemical analytical results are here briefy summarized. The chapter also describes the main advantages of using this non-destructive technique for forensic geosciences applications, with a particular focus on Automated Mineralogy (AM). This analytical technique expands the potentiality of modern SEM systems, allowing a rapid achievement of mineral classifcation and modal composition of grain mixtures. Finally, we present real case studies on applying SEM-EDS, WDS, and AM techniques to several felds of forensic geology. Signifcant examples will include studies on prediction of soil provenance, fngerprinting of airborne asbestos, and comparison between soils and sediment samples to test an association between a soil residue found at a crime scene and relevant items for investigation.

The use of thermal methods has become common in modern geomaterial analysis laboratories. The simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) represents a valid support for the definition of the physical behavior of concerned samples, once subjected to a temperature variation. This chapter discusses the thermal behaviors of key mineralogical phases present in soils, in order to provide the readers with a valuable tool for optimizing the compatibility and applicability of the STA method in judicial forensic test purposes. To this end, the chapter presents literature evidences and case studies, including those from the authors’ own studies, where the STA methods have been successfully used in the judicial forensic field.

The isotope composition of chemical elements is an invaluable investigation tool widely used in Earth Sciences. Rocks, waters and gases acquire specific radiogenic (e.g., 87Sr/86Sr) and stable (e.g., δ18O) isotope ratios due to geological processes such as magmas’ genesis and evolution, past climatic changes, mixing among distinct reservoirs. The power of these tracers bears in the particular isotope signature any geological material acquires due to both its history and specific processes undergone. Isotope approaches have recently been applied to track air, soil and water pollutants, to identify the provenance of archaeological artifacts, and to reconstruct diet and migration paths of past animals and humans. In this framework, isotope tracers can be efficiently coupled to more traditional investigation techniques to solve forensic issues, including linking a suspect to a crime scene, identifying crime victims and the guilty of an environmental crime, tracking the provenance of drugs, identifying explosives. In this chapter, laboratory techniques for the preparation of variable materials aimed at their isotope analysis are illustrated. Examples of application of isotope analysis techniques are described for a variety of forensic problems.