Microplastics contaminate the deepest part of the world’s ocean

Peng, Xiaotong; Chen, M.; Chen, S.; Dasgupta, S.; Xu, Hongzhou; Ta, Kaiwen; Du, Mengran; Li, J.; Guo, Zhang; Bai, Song

doi:10.7185/geochemlet.1829

Cited by 344 publications

(192 citation statements)

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“…The term 'microplastics' refers to plastic particles of < 5 mm in size [2]. Their presence in the environment has been reported since the early 1970s [3], and many studies since have shown that microplastics are now ubiquitous in the oceans at all depths [4,5], from the Arctic [6] to the Antarctic [7]. Most studies have focused on microplastics in marine systems, with < 4% of publications concerning freshwater systems [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in surface water and sediments of Chongming Island in the Yangtze Estuary, China

Zheng

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Eur

141

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Background: The Yangtze Estuary acts as gateways where microplastics transport from freshwater into marine environments, with one of the largest discharge volumes in the world. The occurrence of microplastics in surface water and sediments of the Yangtze Estuary has been reported. However, little is known about microplastics in and around Chongming Island in the estuary. In this study, the distribution of microplastics in surface water and sediments of Chongming Island was investigated and compared in different environmental medium.Results: Abundances of microplastics in surface water and sediments were in the ranges of 0-259 items m − 3 and 10-60 items kg − 1 dry weight, respectively. Microplastics were more abundant in the surface water of the Yangtze River shores than in the inland rivers (p < 0.01). Proportions in fiber form in surface water and sediment were 33% and 67%; and those in fragment form were 39% and 24%. Most particles (> 72%) were < 1 mm in the longest dimension; 65% were white and 30% were transparent. Of the 11 compositions identified, polyethylene, polypropylene, and α-cellulose predominated in both phases.Conclusion: This is the first study to focus on microplastics in inland watercourses on Chongming Island and along the Yangtze River's shores in both phases. There were differences between the island and estuary in composition and density due to the distinct vertical mixing processes. The in situ filtration of surface water (100 L) sampling method was well employed in various freshwater environments and free of plastic materials in front of the filter, analysis results of which provided an important baseline reference for evaluating microplastic pollution in the Yangtze Estuary. Publisher's NoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in surface water and sediments of Chongming Island in the Yangtze Estuary, China

Zheng

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Eur

141

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“…More than 80% of the missing plastic qualifies as microplastic (MP, or plastics between 0.1 and 5 mm in length), and smaller (Cózar et al, 2014). These tiny particles might have been missed by historical sampling and are thus under-reported, or they might sink to the sediments (Woodall et al, 2014) or into deeper ocean water masses (Peng et al, 2018;Choy et al, 2019). Also, not all plastics are transported uniformly in the real ocean; e.g., the most significant concentrations of microfibers occurring far away from the most significant concentrations of other plastics in a recent survey of the Arctic (Cózar et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Examination of the Role of Marine Snow and Zooplankton Fecal Pellets in Removing Ocean Surface Microplastic

2020

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Numerical simulations and emissions estimates of plastic in and to the ocean consistently over-predict the surface inventory, particularly in the case of microplastic (MP), i.e., fragments less than 5 mm in length. Sequestration in the sediments has been both predicted and, to a limited extent, observed. It has been hypothesized that biology may be exporting a significant fraction of surface MP by way of marine snow aggregation and zooplankton fecal pellets. We apply previously published data on MP concentrations in the surface ocean to an earth system model of intermediate complexity to produce a first estimate of the potential global sequestration of MP by marine aggregates, including fecal pellets. We find a MP seafloor export potential of between 7.3E3 and 4.2E5 metric tons per year, or about 0.06-8.8% of estimated total annual plastic ocean pollution rates. We find that presently, aggregates alone would have the potential to remove most existing surface ocean MP to the seafloor within less than 2 years if pollution ceases. However, the observed accumulation of MP in the surface ocean, despite this high potential rate of removal, suggests that detrital export is an ineffective pathway for permanent MP removal. We theorize a prominent role of MP biological fouling and de-fouling in the rapid recycling of aggregate-associated MP in the upper ocean. We also present an estimate of how the potential detrital MP sink might change into the future, as climate change (and projected increasing MP pollution) alters the marine habitat. The polar regions, and the Arctic in particular, are projected to experience increasing removal rates as export production increases faster than MP pollution. Northern hemisphere subtropical gyres are projected to experience slowing removal rates as stratification and warming decrease export production, and MP pollution increases. However, significant uncertainty accompanies these results.

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“…The Mariana subduction zone that occurs at convergent boundaries of the western edge of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Plate is a unique biogeochemical hot spot. However, high concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in the trench sediments are affecting hadal ecosystems (Dasgupta et al, ; Peng et al, ). In fact, the production of hydrogen, methane, liquid sulfur, carbon dioxide, and minerals by geochemical reactions associated with water‐rock interactions can potentially fuel diverse microbial metabolisms in this zone (Hand et al, ; Stern et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributions and Sources of Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers in Sediment Cores From the Mariana Subduction Zone

Peng

et al. 2019

JGR Biogeosciences

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Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are ubiquitously found in marine sediments.However, their presence, distributions, and sources in the subduction zone are not fully understood. We investigated isoprenoidal GDGTs (isoGDGTs) and branched GDGTs (brGDGTs) in two sediment cores from the southern and northern subduction plates of Mariana Trench, respectively. IsoGDGTs and brGDGTs exhibited covariation in most sediment samples, and total GDGT concentrations reached a maximum at the subsurface sediment depth~10 cm. Concentrations of isoGDGTs and brGDGTs were clearly elevated at depths of~10 and~45 cm. These indicated that microbial activities potentially influenced the production of the specific membrane lipids of archaea and bacteria. We found that the branched and isoprenoid tetraether index and R b/i values increased with depth profiles of the Mariana subduction zone, suggesting that deeper sediments likely hosted more brGDGT-producing bacteria than crenarchaeol-producing archaea. The extremely high abundance of cyclopentyl rings in brGDGTs was determined in subsurface sediments. We further proposed that most of the brGDGTs in sediments were produced in situ in the Mariana subduction zone. This study highlights that the extremophilic microbial communities of the Mariana subduction zone may represent a significant component of the global carbon cycle.

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Microplastics contaminate the deepest part of the world’s ocean

Cited by 344 publications

References 0 publications

Microplastics in surface water and sediments of Chongming Island in the Yangtze Estuary, China

Microplastics in surface water and sediments of Chongming Island in the Yangtze Estuary, China

A Critical Examination of the Role of Marine Snow and Zooplankton Fecal Pellets in Removing Ocean Surface Microplastic

Distributions and Sources of Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers in Sediment Cores From the Mariana Subduction Zone

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