Chemical, physical and mineralogical characterization of soils from the Curitiba Metropolitan Region for forensic purpose.

The objective of this paper is to propose a soil characterization methodology for forensic use, based on physical (textural and spectroscopic analyses), chemical (extractions with hydrofluoric acid, ammonium oxalate, sodium dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate and NaOH solution) and mineralogical (thermal analyses and X-ray diffraction) analyses. The study was carried out in the State of Paraná, Brazil, in three neighborhoods of Curitiba city and in two cities within the Curitiba Metropolitan Region. In order to verify the similarity between samples, four composite samples (repetitions) were prepared in each of the five studied sites. It was obtained a great number of quantitative variables (56) from a reduced amount of soil sample (1g). The variables selected from the chemical extractions (16) were more precise in grouping similar samples (same horizon and sampling site) as well as in separating samples collected in different horizons or sites. Seven distinct groups were formed, each with high intragroup similarity, but the unexpected dispersion of two samples (from a total of 40 samples) reduced the distinction of three other studied groups. The placement of the two samples in a different group and the higher dispersion (24 samples) for samples collected in the city of Curitiba are due to the great pedological homogeneity of this area (physical-chemical horizon characteristics, soil color and parent material). The methodology used in this work (analytical method and data treatment) presents high potential for forensic studies and can be easily validated for other areas.