TY - JOUR

T1 - Microplastic accumulation in deep-sea sediments from the Rockall Trough

AU - Courtene-Jones, Winnie

AU - Quinn, Brian

AU - Ewins, Ciaran

AU - Gary, Stefan F

AU - Narayanaswamy, Bhavani E

N1 - Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - Microplastics are widely dispersed through the marine environment. Few studies have assessed the long-term or historic prevalence of microplastics, yet acquiring such data can inform their distribution, transport and the environmental risks posed. To quantify the distribution and polymer types temporally, sediment cores were collected from >2000 m water depth in the Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean. As hypothesized, a significant negative trend was observed in the frequency of microplastics with increasing sediment age, however there was an increase in polymer diversity. Microplastics were pervasive throughout the sediment analysed (10 cm depth), yet lead-210 (210Pb) activities were confined to the upper 4 cm, indicating this layer to be ~150 years old and thus the presence of microplastics far exceed the production of modern plastic. A number of mechanisms, including sediment reworking, could redistribute microplastics vertically. Additionally, microplastics abundance was significantly correlated with sediment porosity, suggesting interstitial transport via pore waters.

AB - Microplastics are widely dispersed through the marine environment. Few studies have assessed the long-term or historic prevalence of microplastics, yet acquiring such data can inform their distribution, transport and the environmental risks posed. To quantify the distribution and polymer types temporally, sediment cores were collected from >2000 m water depth in the Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean. As hypothesized, a significant negative trend was observed in the frequency of microplastics with increasing sediment age, however there was an increase in polymer diversity. Microplastics were pervasive throughout the sediment analysed (10 cm depth), yet lead-210 (210Pb) activities were confined to the upper 4 cm, indicating this layer to be ~150 years old and thus the presence of microplastics far exceed the production of modern plastic. A number of mechanisms, including sediment reworking, could redistribute microplastics vertically. Additionally, microplastics abundance was significantly correlated with sediment porosity, suggesting interstitial transport via pore waters.

KW - Atlantic Ocean

KW - Environmental Monitoring

KW - Geologic Sediments

KW - Microplastics

KW - Plastics

KW - Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis

U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111092

DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111092

M3 - Article

C2 - 32319921

VL - 154

SP - 111092

JO - Marine pollution bulletin

JF - Marine pollution bulletin

SN - 0025-326X

ER -