Hydrocarbon fingerprinting for application in forensic geology: review with case studies

Forensic geology the application of the science to the law, has required detailed classification, identification, and fingerprinting of hydrocarbons. One does not need to be a chemist to understand practical concepts or to use the basic techniques of hydrocarbon fingerprinting. Currently the best overall tool for this is a chromatogram. Retention time on a chromatogram can help identify key hydrocarbons, such as normal paraffins. N-paraffins ranges can be used to classify hydrocarbon mixtures such as gasoline, diesel fuel or crude oil.