Geophysical imaging of buried human remains in simulated mass and single graves: Experiment design and results from pre-burial to six months after burial.

Autor: Doro KO; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, OH, US. Electronic address: kennedy.doro@utoledo.edu., Kolapkar AM; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, OH, US., Bank CG; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada., Wescott DJ; Forensic Anthropology Center, Texas State University, San Marcos 78666 TX, US., Mickleburgh HL; Department of Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Växjö 35195, Sweden; Forensic Anthropology Center, Texas State University, San Marcos 78666 TX, US.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Forensic science international [Forensic Sci Int] 2022 Jun; Vol. 335, pp. 111289. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Mar 31.
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2022.111289
Abstrakt: In this study, we present an experiment design and assess the capability of multiple geophysical techniques to image buried human remains in mass and individual graves using human cadavers willingly donated for scientific research. The study is part of a novel, interdisciplinary mass grave experiment established in May 2021 which consists of a mass grave with 6 human remains, 3 individual graves and 2 empty control graves dug to the same size as the mass grave and individual graves. Prior to establishing the graves, we conducted background measurements of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), electromagnetics (EM), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) while soil profiles were analyzed in situ after excavating the graves. All graves were also instrumented with soil sensors for monitoring temporal changes in soil moisture, temperature, and electrical conductivity in situ. Measurements of ERT, EM and GPR were repeated 3, 37, 71 and 185 days after burial with further repeated measurements planned for another twelve months. ERT results show an initial increase in resistivity in all graves including the control graves at 3 days after burial and a continuous decrease thereafter in the mass and individual graves with the strongest decrease in the mass grave. Conductivity distribution from the EM shows a similar trend to the ERT with an initial decrease in the first 3 days after burial. Distortion in linear reflectors, presence of small hyperbolas and isolated strong amplitude reflectors in the GPR profiles across the graves is associated with known locations of the graves. These initial results validate the capability of geoelectrical methods in detecting anomalies associated with disturbed ground and human decay while GPR though show some success is limited by the geology of the site.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: