WHAT IS SOIL FORENSICS?

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You may have heard about soil forensics through the literary character of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes used soil forensics in his investigations, but real detectives do, too.

Forensic soil analysis is the use of soil science and other disciplines (e.g. geochemistry and geology) to aid in criminal investigations. Each soil possesses unique properties that serve as identification markers. This means investigators can trace and match soils to each other. For example, clay embedded in the shoe treads of a criminal can be traced back to a specific clay type found along a lake where a murder victim was discovered.

Office of the Head Of Department

University of Benin

Department Of Soil Science And Land Management

I, Professor. Joseph Sunday Ogeh welcomes you to the Department of Soil Science and Land Management. Our Department has the vision/mission to be the center of excellence in Soil Science, Land Resource Management and Environmental studies and to provide satisfactory services to the University, general public and the private sector in all areas relating to the soil, land and environment. Due to new evolving issues related to the soil, land and environment, the department is fully equipped with qualified staff to match with every evolving issue and also based on the regular update of her curriculum. Our undergraduate programme cover courses like Soil Fertility, Soil Physics, Soil Microbiology, Soil and Plant Analysis, Soil Morphology, Classification and Survey, Chemical Fertilizer, Soil Chemistry, Soil Management, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry. Our Postgraduate programme covers all the undergraduate courses but at an advanced level. The Department also has expertise in the area of Advanced Analytical Techniques, Fertilizer and Fertilizer Technology, Soil Mineralogy, Soil Water Plant Relationships, Soil Hydrology, Soil Physical Chemistry, Soil Pollution and Environmental management, Soil Environmental Chemistry, Management of Problem Soils amongst many others. Our graduates are able to compare with students produced from similar institution within and outside the country.

Currently the Department is conducting Research on Characterization and Classification of some of the soils within and outside its locality. Research is also going on in the area of climate change, solute and water movement in the soil, studies on bacteria and fungi activities in the soil, use of residue in soil management, carbon sequestration and nutrient needs of some indigenous crops.

Our academic staffs have the findings of their research work published in reputable Journals both nationally and internationally.

The Department is directly involved in the Journal produced by the Faculty of Agriculture where many of our local breakthroughs are published..

I encourage you to also visit our academic staff profile in the Department.

Thank you and welcome.

Sincerely,

Joseph S. Ogeh, Ph.D
Head and Professor of Soil Management

E-mail: joseph.ogeh@uniben.edu