Microplastics on sandy beaches of the southern Baltic Sea

Urban-Malinga, Barbara; Zalewski, M.; Jakubowska, Aneta; Wodzinowski, Tycjan; Malinga, Maja; Pałys, Barbara; Dąbrowska, Agnieszka

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111170

Cited by 87 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…This indicates that at least for larger fragments > 200 μm pre-selection by visual identification can lead to reliable results. This is supported by Urban-Malinga et al (2020), who found that 91% of all particles they visually pre-sorted were identified as microplastics by IR-spectroscopy. Mintenig et al (2020) in agreement with Koelmans et al (2019) suggested that 75% or at least 50 visually pre-sorted particles should be analyzed by spectroscopic methods to reduce uncertainty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…The particle concentrations found in this study were similar to the ones we observed for the Kiel Fjord, but were lower than those observed by . Urban-Malinga et al (2020) investigated the abundance and composition of microplastics at 12 beaches along the Polish coast that differ in their degree of touristic usage and urbanization as well as with regard to sediment characteristics. In the swash zone (zone of wave action on the beach), the authors sampled the upper 5 cm of the sediment and mixed 1 dm 3 of it into a NaCl-solution (1.2 g/cm 3 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Either all fibers were visually classified as natural or synthetic (Esiukova 2017;Chubarenko et al 2018), or just colored fibers were visually classified (Stolte et al 2015). Furthermore, fibers were stained and visually identified under UV-light (Hengstmann et al 2018), or they were visually pre-sorted and examined by IR-or Raman spectroscopy (Graca et al 2017;Urban-Malinga et al 2020;Esiukova et al 2020). Finally, some studies completely excluded them due to the high background fiber contamination (e.g., Ory et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the studies that so far assessed microplastics in beach sediments in the southern Baltic Sea (Stolte et al 2015;Graca et al 2017;Esiukova 2017;Chubarenko et al 2018;Esiukova et al 2020;Urban-Malinga et al 2020), only Graca et al (2017), Esiukova et al (2020), Urban-Malinga et al (2020), and this study used spectroscopic methods to verify their visual identification. Studies that compared visual identification methods for microplastics to other techniques such as spectroscopy or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry revealed that overestimation of particle loads is a likely consequence of the visual analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this sea area, studies on particle concentrations in the water column or at the water surface were carried out in the main Baltic Proper basins (Bagaev et al 2018;Beer et al 2018), in Denmark (Tamminga et al 2018), in Sweden (Gewert et al 2017;Schönlau et al 2020), in Russia (Zobkov et al 2019), in Germany (Ory et al 2020), and in the Gulf of Finland (Ojaveer et al 2013;Talvite et al 2015;Setälä et al 2016). Seafloor or beach sediments were investigated in Finland (Talvite et al 2015;Näkki et al 2019), Russia (Zobkov and Esiukova 2017;Esiukova 2017;Chubarenko et al 2018;Esiukova et al 2020), Lithuania (Chubarenko et al 2020;Esiukova et al 2020), and Germany (Stolte et al 2015; as well as along the Polish coast (Graca et al 2017;Urban-Malinga et al 2020). Due to their dynamic character, beach sediments could not only serve as a sink (Chubarenko et al 2018) but also as a source (Critchell and Lambrechts 2016) for microplastics in coastal seas and, because of their large spatial extension, can store substantial amounts of smallsized plastic debris.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastic abundance in beach sediments of the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea

Schröder

Kossel

Lenz

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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We assessed the abundance of microplastics (0.2–5 mm) in drift line sediments from three sites in Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea. The first site is intensively used by beach visitors, the second is in close proximity to a sewage plant and the third is polluted with large-sized plastic litter. Samples were split into three grain size classes (0.2–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–5 mm), washed with calcium chloride solution, and filtered at 0.2 mm. Filters were then visually inspected, and a total of 180 fragments was classified as microplastics, of which 39% were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. At the site that is close to a sewage plant as well as at the site with intense beach use, 1.8 and 4.5 particles (fibers plus fragments) per kg of dry sediment were found, respectively, while particle abundances reached 30.2 per kg of dry sediment at the site with high litter loads. Our data suggest that the fragmentation of large plastic debris at site seems to be a relevant source for microplastics in Western Baltic Sea beach sediments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastic abundance in beach sediments of the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea

Schröder

Kossel

Lenz

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Source Apportionment of Marine Microplastics: First Step Towards Managing Microplastic Pollution

Kumar

Varghese

2021

Chem Eng & Technol

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was carried out in the beach sediments of Calicut to understand the monthly accumulation and deposition pattern of microplastics (MP). The average abundance in terms of items per kg dry sediment during monsoon months was higher than that of non-monsoon months. The sources and pathways of the sampled microplastics were identified using an existing forensic framework. The pathways of pellets and fibers were seen as drainage outlet and harbor, respectively. Exactly identified sources include polycarbonate urethane (PCU) fragments from foam, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE)+PP films from paints of boats, and PE and PE+PP from fishing nets. The MP concentration in recreational areas was consistently higher except during flood periods.

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Comparison of Microplastic Pollution in Beach Sediment and Seawater at UNESCO Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve

Khuyen

Fischer

et al. 2021

Global Challenges

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Microplastics have become a global concern due to their persistent properties and impacts on the marine environment. This research investigates pollution sources and behaviors of microplastics at UNESCO Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve. Density flotation with sodium chloride is employed to extract microplastics from sand at Can Gio Beach, and a double‐filtration procedure is developed to recover microplastics from seawater at the beach and Dong Tranh Cape. The microplastics’ morphology and type are analyzed by micro‐Raman spectroscopy. The results show that microplastics are accumulated at concentrations from 31.99 to 92.56 MPs g−1 at various sand layers. The seawater at Can Gio Beach and Dong Tranh Cape contains 6.44 and 3.75 MPs L−1 of microplastics, respectively. White polyethylene fragments predominate, and all the microplastics comprise small secondary microplastics with a minimum size of 25 µm and a maximum size of 260 µm for fragments and a length of 640 µm for fibers. The proportions of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polymethylmethacrylate are similar. The differing percentages of other compositions in sand and seawater are attributed to the morphology and density of the microplastics. The results indicate the extent of microplastic pollution and suggest appropriate strategies for tourism development at the Biosphere Reserve.

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Microplastics on sandy beaches of the southern Baltic Sea

Cited by 87 publications

References 37 publications

Microplastic abundance in beach sediments of the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea

Microplastic abundance in beach sediments of the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea

Source Apportionment of Marine Microplastics: First Step Towards Managing Microplastic Pollution

Comparison of Microplastic Pollution in Beach Sediment and Seawater at UNESCO Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve

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