Product catalogue
Geochemical mapping applications to forensics and intelligence
Geochemical surveys deliver fundamental data, information and knowledge about the concentration and spatial distribution of chemical elements, isotopes and compounds in the natural environment. Typically near-surface sampling media, such as soil, sediment, outcropping rocks and stream or groundwater, are used. The application of such datasets to fields such as mineral exploration, environmental management, and geomedicine has been widely documented. In this presentation I reflect on a sabbatical experience with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 2017-2018 that allowed me to extend the interpretation of geochemical survey data beyond these established applications. In particular, with my collaborators we explore ways in which geochemical survey data and maps can be used to indicate the provenance of an evidentiary sample collected at a crime scene or obtained for instance from items belonging to a suspect intercepted at border entry. Because soils are extremely diverse mineralogically, geochemically and biologically, it should theoretically be possible to exclude very large swathes of territory (>90%) from further provenancing investigation using soil data. In a collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA), the AFP and the University of Canberra (UC), a recent geochemical survey of the urban/suburban Canberra region in southeastern Australia is being used as a testbed for developing different approaches to forensic applications of geochemical surveys. A predictive soil provenancing method at the national scale was also developed and tested for application where no actual detailed, fit-for-purpose geochemical survey data exist. Over the next few years, GA, AFP and UC are collaborating with Flinders University to add biome data from soil and soil-derived dust to further improve the provenancing technique.
This Abstract was presented at the 2021 Goldschmidt Conference
( https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2021/meetingapp.cgi)
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Released)
- 2021-07-06
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-10-26T23:51:27
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145513
Identifier
- Codespace
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Digital Object Identifier
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author de Caritat, P.
MEG Internal Contact Author Woods, B.
External Contact Author Roffey, P.
External Contact Author Young, J.
External Contact Author Hoogewerff, J.
External Contact Author Young, J.
External Contact Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Name
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Goldschmidt Conference 04-09 July 2021, Virtual
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Conference Abstract for Goldschmidt Conference 2021
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
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MEG Internal Contact
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- Geoscientific information
Extent
Extent
))
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- As needed
Resource format
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Product data repository: Various Formats
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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EARTH SCIENCES
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Forensic Chemistry
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- Keywords
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near-surface sampling
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- Keywords
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geochemical survey
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- Keywords
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forensics
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- Keywords
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intelligence
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
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CC-BY
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4.0
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- License
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2021
Resource constraints
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
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- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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- Unclassified
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- English
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
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Conference Abstract for Goldschmidt Conference 2021
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Australian Government Security Classification System
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- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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urn:uuid/03d11987-70d9-4698-8e05-83bde5669863
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GeoNetwork UUID
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
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MEG Internal Contact Point of contact Main, P.
MEG Internal Contact
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Conference Abstracts
Alternative metadata reference
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
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- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
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ISO 19115-3
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
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Version 2.0, September 2018
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