Most swimming pools are DE filtered. My question is if a person has been drowned (killed) in a swimming pool and then gets transferred to another location, can forensic geologists be able to extract diatoms from the victim's clothing to locate how and where the victim died?
Wouldn't you extract it from their lungs?
Forensic Sci Int. 2015 Jun;251:179-85. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.03.025. Epub 2015 Apr 7.
Simple protocol for extracting diatoms from lung tissues of suspected drowning cases within 3h: First practical application.
I'm asking if they can be identified on clothing's,. There are other ways too, but my question is whether we can identify diatoms in swimming pools. Enough to be retrieved from the clothing as well.
I don't know of any specific research on this topic, but we typically isolate diatoms from materials (mud, plants, etc.) by digesting the materials in strong acid. This removes the organic material and leaves behind the diagnostic diatom cell walls. I see no reason why such an application would not work for clothes since they are mainly made from organic fibers.
Yes, It is possible. Here is the research publication support the idea. http://fmp.conncoll.edu/Silicasecchidisk/PDF_Publications/1993-Forensic_limno.PDF
Yes, I agree with Karthick Sir, you can check recent publication of
Levkov et al. 2017.
It is important to know whether swimming pool has diatoms since its enriched with chlorides and alum, diatoms and algae may or may not be found, depends upon the cleanliness of pool water of these microalage.
@Lalit Pandey; if diatoms are there in the pool then not only in organs(specific only) but also in clothes they would be found.
Vandana Vinayak I agree with what you have stated, swimming pools that are abundant in chlorides can potentially prevent the growth of diatoms. My question was if the victim is killed in an environment similar to what you have described and then ben relocated to a completely foreign surrounding, can forensics gather enough information to pinpoint the original location of the victim's demise. How is the main question.
If the victim was drowned in a lake, river, or a pond, somewhere rich in diatoms; the chances of finding out the initial location of death would be easily achievable.
Of course if diatoms r present in drowning medium they can also be found on the clothes as well as shoes and thus act as corroborative evidence for location of particular site if control water sample is not available for comparison
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