Diatomological Mapping of Water Bodies of Indore (M.P) Region

Diatoms are microscopic, eukaryotic and unicellular algae that are abundant in most aquatic habitats and are useful proxies for the ecological analysis. They are used as a tool to differentiate the ante-mortem drowning cases from post-mortem submersion. In the present study, water samples were collected from different water bodies of Indore region, Madhya Pradesh to generate the data regarding different drowning associated diatoms species found in them. Among the different diatoms genus, Navicula and Nitzschia were most common, followed by Synedra and Gamphonema. The Diatomological Mapping (D-Mapping) of water bodies might be of vital forensic importance as it can give useful lead to the forensic pathologists in solving the drowning cases, particularly when reference water sample is not available.