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Decomposition Rate of a Cadaver: A Burial in Sandy Clay Loam Soil of
Bukit Payong, Marang
Loh Kit Yee
Supervisor: Dr. Siti Sofo binti Ismail
Bachelor of Science (Analytical and Environmental Chemistry)
School of Marine and Environmental Science
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
Estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI) with the existing methods becomes less
accurate with longer time of death. Therefore, cadaveric lipids has potential to be
developed as burial biomarkers. A controlled laboratory burial experiment was carried
out to document the decomposition rate and types of cadaveric lipids that may
introduced into underneath soil during the decomposition process. Fatty flesh of
domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) was allowed to decompose for 150 days and exposed to
ambient environment. The associated soils were collected at different sampling points,
corresponding different decomposition stages. Modified Bligh-Dyer extraction method
was used to extract lipid from the soil and analysed by using Gas Chromatography-
Flame Ionisation Detector (GC-FID). It was found that rate of decomposition increased
initially and decreased towards end of burial period. Soil post-experimental pH was
alkaline at initial stages and turned more acidic towards the end of experiment. The
main lipid components recovered from the soil were palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid
(C18:0) and cholesterol with variation in their concentrations. Findings of this study
showed that the cadaveric lipids may provide useful information for more accurate
estimation of PMI.
1948 | UMT UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY 2018