The occurrence and distribution characteristics of microplastics in the agricultural soils of Shaanxi Province, in north-western China

Ding, Ling; Zhang, Shuaiya; Wang, Xiaoyu; Yang, Xiaomei; Zhang, Chutian; Qi, Yanbing; Guo, Xuetao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137525

Cited by 325 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Most of the studies are structured very similarly using mechanical agitation within a salt solution for the detachment and density separation of MP. In two cases a foregoing and in six cases a subsequent additional oxidation of soil organic matter with H2O2 or other oxidants was applied, followed by lightmicroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy (LM+FTIR) for particle counting and identification of MP (Liu et al, 2018;Zhang and Liu, 2018;Han et al, 2019;Lv et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2020;Ding et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020;Zhou et al, 2020). The 11 studies showed a median MP particle number of 1076 items kg -1 with a 25 % quantile of 78 items kg -1 , a 75 % quantile of 2500 items kg -1 and a maximum of 690000 items kg -1 .…”

Section: East Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three of these studies focused on mixed origins of soil MP and found average concentrations of 2625 items kg -1 (n=38, 25 %: 1875 items kg -1 , 75 %: 14198 items kg -1 ), while no mass data was recorded (Zhang and Liu, 2018;Zhou et al, 2019;Ding et al, 2020). Agricultural land, that received sewage sludge application and plastic mulching, was examined by Ding et al (2020) in vicinity to nine cities across the Shaanxi Province. The authors applied density fractionation (DF) with a cut-off of 1.5 g cm -3 and a subsequent oxidation of soil organic matter (SOM).…”

Section: East Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only particles >1000 µm were extracted by picking from H2O2 treated and sieved soil. Thus, smaller MP is ignored, which represent the majority of MP (Huerta Lwanga et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2018;Zhang and Liu, 2018;Razaei et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2020;Ding et al, 2020). In addition, no further studies were conducted in Europe with focus on mixed contamination, plastic mulching, littering, ponding or the application of composts or digestates.…”

Section: Europementioning

confidence: 99%

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Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Büks

Kaupenjohann

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Worldwide, microplastic (MP) has been commonly recognized as a threat for soil ecosystems. Terrestrial soils are widely contaminated by MP due to the application of sewage sludge and wastewater, plastic mulching, littering, the input of tire wear from roads and atmospheric deposition. Within the last decade, an increasing number of individual studies focused on item counts and masses of MP in different global soil environments. We reviewed these studies to achieve a representative picture of common degrees of contamination. The majority of the prospected agricultural and horticultural sites was exposed to sewage sludge and mulching film application and showed concentrations of

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Section: East Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: East Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Europementioning

confidence: 99%

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Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Büks

Kaupenjohann

2020

Preprint

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“…The mechanical disintegration of soil aggregates by use of ultrasonication following the method of Edwards and Bremner (1967a) and subsequent density fractionation of particulate organic matter is widely used in the assessment of soil organic matter (SOM) stability. This includes characteristics such as aggregate composition and stability (Edwards and Bremner, 1967b), the constitution of SOM pools (Golchin et al, 1994), the stabilization of SOM in forest ecosystems (Graf-Rosenfellner et al, 2016) and the occlusive strength of particulate organic matter (POM) (Büks and Kaupenjohann, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Particles under stress: ultrasonication causes size and recovery rate artifacts with soil-derived POM but not with microplastics

et al. 2021

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Abstract. The breakdown of soil aggregates and the extraction of particulate organic matter (POM) by ultrasonication and density fractionation is a method widely used in soil organic matter (SOM) analyses. It has recently also been used for the extraction of microplastic from soil samples. However, the investigation of POM physiochemical properties and ecological functions might be biased if particles are comminuted during the treatment. In this work, different types of POM, which are representative of different terrestrial ecosystems and anthropogenic influences, were tested for their structural stability in the face of ultrasonication in the range of 0 to 500 J mL−1. The occluded particulate organic matter (oPOM) of an agricultural and forest soil as well as pyrochar showed a significant reduction of particle size at ≥50 J mL−1 by an average factor of 1.37±0.16 and a concurrent reduction of recovery rates by an average of 21.7±10.7 % when being extracted. Our results imply that increasing ultrasonication causes increasing retention of POM within the sedimenting phase, leading to a misinterpretation of certain POM fractions as more strongly bound oPOM or part of the mineral-associated organic matter (MOM). This could, for example, lead to a false estimation of physical stabilization. In contrast, neither fresh nor weathered polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) microplastics showed a reduction of particle size or the recovery rate after application of ultrasound. We conclude that ultrasonication applied to soils has no impact on microplastic size distribution and thus provides a valuable tool for the assessment of microplastics in soils and soil aggregates.

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“…Feng et al (2020) evaluated soils in the Tibetan Plateau in China and concluded that agricultural practices in general and the use of plastic mulch in particular were some of the main causes for the microplastics found in soils. Ding et al (2020) came to a similar conclusion after researchers evaluated 9 agricultural sites in Shaanxi, China. The authors argued that the farmers' poor management practices and waste disposal caused the pollution at the study site.…”

Section: Potential Sources Of Microplastics Found In Soilsmentioning

confidence: 62%

Development and application of tests for microplastic detection in soil

Santander¹,

Alfonso²

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China 20 Plastic mulch Sludge Flotation (NaCl) Visual sorting & μ-FTIR 78 ±13 63 ±13 PP PE PET * Polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide (PA), polybutylene (PB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyurethane (PUR). ** The 'visual sorting' test requires a stereomicroscope to look for microplastics. 1 Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. 2 Ding et al. (2020) did the visual sorting with a metallographic microscope. 3 Transmission electronic microscopy. 4 Pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

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The occurrence and distribution characteristics of microplastics in the agricultural soils of Shaanxi Province, in north-western China

Cited by 325 publications

References 43 publications

Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

Particles under stress: ultrasonication causes size and recovery rate artifacts with soil-derived POM but not with microplastics

Development and application of tests for microplastic detection in soil

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