Soil staining
Definition
The dark, organo-mineral discolouration of soil directly surrounding a decomposing body, caused by leaching of fats, decomposition fluids, and breakdown products. It persists in the soil matrix long after the body itself has skeletonised and can outline a body plan where bones have dissolved.
Related terms
- Adipocere
- A waxy, soap-like substance formed by saponification of body fat under anaerobic, wet, cool-to-moderate conditions. Replaces unsaturated fatty acids with saturated palmitic...
- Autolysis
- Self-digestion of cells immediately after death, driven by the release of lysosomal enzymes as cell membranes fail and by anaerobic glycolysis producing...
- Grave wax
- A synonym for adipocere in field parlance, though strictly the term refers to the solid end-product of long-run saponification rather than the...
- Putrefaction
- Bacterial decomposition of soft tissue producing gases (hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia) and volatile organic compounds responsible for the odour of decomposition. Distinguished...
- Taphonomy
- The systematic modification of bone by environmental processes after death, operating over the burial or exposure interval. Includes weathering, soil staining, sun...
Explained in
- Burial Taphonomy: Processes and StagesThe dark, organo-mineral discolouration of soil directly surrounding a decomposing body, caused by leaching of fats, decomposition fluids, and breakdown produc...