To date, the largest Russian rivers discharging to the Arctic Ocean remain a “blank spot” on the world map of data on the distribution of microplastics in freshwater systems. This study characterizes the abundance and morphology of microplastics in surface water of the Ob River and its large tributary, the Tom River, in western Siberia. The average number of particles for the two rivers ranged from 44.2 to 51.2 items per m3 or from 79.4 to 87.5 μg per m3 in the Tom River and in the Ob River, respectively. Of the recovered microplastics, 93.5% were less than 1 mm in their largest dimension, the largest group (45.5% of total counts) consisted of particles with sizes range 0.30–1.00 mm. Generally, microfragments of irregular shape were the most abundant among the Ob and Tom samples (47.4%) and exceeded microfibers (22.1%), microfilms (20.8%), and microspheres (9.74%) by average counts. Results from this study provide a baseline for understanding the scale of the transport of microplastics by the Ob River system into the Arctic Ocean and add to currently available data on microplastics abundance and diversity in freshwater systems of differing global geographic locations.
This study is a pioneering attempt to count microplastics (MPs) in the Yenisei River system to clarify the role of Siberian Rivers in the transport of MPs to the Arctic Ocean. The average MPs content in the surface water of the Yenisei large tributary, the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River, varied from 1.20 ± 0.70 to 4.53 ± 2.04 items/m3, tending to increase along the watercourse (p < 0.05). Concentrations of MPs in bottom sediments of the two rivers were 235 ± 83.0 to 543 ± 94.1 with no tendency of downstream increasing. Linear association (r = 0.952) between average organic matter content and average counts of MPs in bottom sediments occurred. Presumably MPs originated from the daily activities of the in-situ population. Further spatial-temporal studies are needed to estimate the riverine MPs fluxes into the Eurasian Arctic seas.
The low production costs and useful properties of synthetic polymers have led to their ubiquitous use, from food packaging and household products to high-tech applications in medicine and electronics. Incomplete recycling of plastic materials results in an accumulation of plastic waste, which slowly degrades to produce tiny plastic particles, commonly known as “microplastics” (MPs). MPs can enter water bodies, but only recently the problem of MP pollution of sea and fresh waters has become clearly evident and received considerable attention. This paper critically reviews the accumulated data about the distribution of MPs in the freshwater ecosystems of Russia. The available data on MP abundance in the lakes and river systems of the Russian Federation are analyzed (including the large Lakes Baikal, Ladoga, Onego, Imandra and Teletskoe, and the Volga, Northern Dvina, Ob, and Yenisei Rivers within their tributaries) and compared with the data on freshwater MP contents in other countries. In Russia, the main sources of MP pollution for rivers and lakes are domestic wastewater, containing microfibers of synthetic textiles, fishing tackle, and plastic waste left on shores. Among the MPs detected in the surface waters and bottom sediments, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles predominate. The most common types of MPs in the surface freshwaters are fibers and fragments, with fibers prevailing in the bottom sediments. The reported average MP concentrations in the waters range from 0.007 items/m3 at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River to 11,000 items/m3 in the Altai lakes. However, the estimates obtained in different studies must be compared with great precaution because of significant differences in the methods used for MP quantification. The approaches to further improve the relevance of research into MP pollution of fresh waters are suggested.
This preliminary study investigated the abundance of microplastic particles in gastrointestinal tracts of the dace (Leuciscus leuciscus L.) from the Tom River, a large tributary of the Ob River in West Siberia. A total of 13 dace specimens of 2+ to 4+ years of age were studied. Microplastic particles extracted from fish guts were counted and classified by shapes and sizes. In average 204 ± 28.7 items of microplastics were detected for one dace specimen. Microplastic particles were categorized as fragments of irregular shape (70%), spheres (16%), films (7%) and fibers (7%), with size ranging from <0.15 to 2.00 mm. The vast majority of detected microplastic particles (almost 80%) were less than 0.15 mm by their largest dimension. These data provide the first evidence of microplastics in fish from the Ob River system.
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