Plastics in soil: Analytical methods and possible sources

Braun, Melanie; Amelung, Wulf

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.086

Cited by 1,152 publications

(564 citation statements)

References 156 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

480

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Plastics stored in terrestrial systems may subsequently be remobilized and transported within or across catchments (Dris, Gasperi et al, ; Duis & Coors, ; Wagner et al, ). Although empirical assessments are absent from the literature, soil erosion during heavy rainfall is likely to increase the flux of plastic particles from soils to river systems (Bläsing & Amelung, ). Landfill sites in low‐lying areas prone to flooding present a significant additional source of plastics into freshwater ecosystems (Brand et al ).…”

Section: Fluxes Of Plastics Through Hydrological Catchmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution

Windsor

Durance

Horton

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

297

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plastic pollution is distributed across the globe, but compared with marine environments, there is only rudimentary understanding of the distribution and effects of plastics in other ecosystems. Here, we review the transport and effects of plastics across terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. We focus on hydrological catchments as well‐defined landscape units that provide an integrating scale at which plastic pollution can be investigated and managed. Diverse processes are responsible for the observed ubiquity of plastic pollution, but sources, fluxes and sinks in river catchments are poorly quantified. Early indications are that rivers are hotspots of plastic pollution, supporting some of the highest recorded concentrations. River systems are also likely pivotal conduits for plastic transport among the terrestrial, floodplain, riparian, benthic and transitional ecosystems with which they connect. Although ecological effects of micro‐ and nanoplastics might arise through a variety of physical and chemical mechanisms, consensus and understanding of their nature, severity and scale are restricted. Furthermore, while individual‐level effects are often graphically represented in public media, knowledge of the extent and severity of the impacts of plastic at population, community and ecosystem levels is limited. Given the potential social, ecological and economic consequences, we call for more comprehensive investigations of plastic pollution in ecosystems to guide effective management action and risk assessment. This is reliant on (a) expanding research to quantify sources, sinks, fluxes and fates of plastics in catchments and transitional waters both independently as a major transport routes to marine ecosystems, (b) improving environmentally relevant dose–response relationships for different organisms and effect pathways, (c) scaling up from studies on individual organisms to populations and ecosystems, where individual effects are shown to cause harm and; (d) improving biomonitoring through developing ecologically relevant metrics based on contemporary plastic research.

show abstract

Section: Fluxes Of Plastics Through Hydrological Catchmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution

Windsor

Durance

Horton

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

297

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, FTIR can only analyze microplastics with particle size large than 20 μm, whereas Raman spectroscopy is susceptible to the interference of sample color, additives, contamination, and environmental background, which may lead to the inaccurate identification of microplastics when covered by coatings. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has also been used to provide high‐magnification, clear structural images of microplastics . However, SEM cannot distinguish between different types of microplastics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has also been used to provide high-magnification, clear structural images of microplastics. [10][11][12][13][14] However, SEM cannot distinguish between different types of microplastics. Thermo-extraction and desorption coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) has also been used for the analysis of microplastics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ToF‐SIMS characterization of microplastics in soils

Gong

et al. 2020

Surface & Interface Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microplastics pollution is becoming one of the most serious threats to the surface ecosystem of the earth; it is widespread in oceans, rivers, sediments, soils, and organisms. It is a growing concern as an environmental pollutant, which currently has no clear detection standard. Detection methods still need to be constantly supplemented and improved. This study explored a novel method called time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS) in this field. Four types of microplastics in farmland soils, namely, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyamide 6, were successfully identified in terms of particle size and abundance by combining the high molecular specificity with ion imaging capability of ToF‐SIMS. The procedure based on ToF‐SIMS analysis also provides a methodological reference and basic data for the investigation and research of microplastics in soil, coastal beaches, and sediment.

show abstract

“…Microplastics occur in many forms, with high physical and chemical diversity (Figure a,b). They originate from many sources (Bläsing & Amelung, ) and are almost certainly ubiquitous around the globe, being carried by wind to even the remotest places (Allen et al, ). However, urban (Fuller & Gautam, ), riparian (Scheurer & Bigalke, ) and agricultural soils (Corradini et al, ; Liu et al, ; Piehl et al, ; Zhang & Liu, ) have so far received the bulk of research focus (Figure c).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past reviews on microplastics in soil (Bläsing & Amelung, 2018;Chae & An, 2018;de Souza Machado, Kloas, Zarfl, Hempel, & Rillig, 2018;He et al, 2018;Ng et al, 2018;Zhu et al, 2019), of which there have been many for such a recent field ( Figure 2), have focused primarily on microplastic occurrence and abundance in terrestrial environments, sources of soil microplastics, methods for their extraction and quantification, and their ecotoxicological effects on soil organisms and communities. We chose to focus on the role of ecology in governing the occurrence, distribution and ultimate impacts of microplastics in soil: in other words, on ecological effects on microplastics in addition to those of microplastics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an ecology of soil microplastics

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microplastic pollution is a topic of increasing concern for the world's oceans, freshwaters and, most recently, soils. Microplastics have been found in soils across the globe. Like other anthropogenic pollutants, they can negatively affect a range of soil organisms through several mechanisms, though often dependent on particle size, shape and polymer type. However, microplastics are unique among pollutants due to the diversity of ways in which soil organisms may themselves be able to affect their occurrence and distribution and mediate their effects on the rest of the soil food web. In this review, we argue for a more explicitly ecological framing of this novel issue for the soil environment and discuss their potential interactions with soil communities, including microplastic formation via microbial and faunal fragmentation of large plastic debris and organisms such as earthworms placing microplastic particles in unique pedological contexts they could not otherwise reach. Ecological interactions may be crucial for dictating microplastics’ ultimate fate and effect on terrestrial ecosystems. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

show abstract

Plastics in soil: Analytical methods and possible sources

Cited by 1,152 publications

References 156 publications

A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution

A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution

ToF‐SIMS characterization of microplastics in soils

Towards an ecology of soil microplastics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About