Seasonal pulse effect of microplastics in the river catchment-From tributary catchment to mainstream.
J Environ Manage
; 342: 118316, 2023 Sep 15.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37290303
ABSTRACT
Rivers have received extensive attention as a major pathway for microplastics (<5000 µm) from land to ocean. This study investigated the seasonal variation of microplastic contamination in surface water of the Liangfeng River catchment, a tributary of the Li River in China, based on a fluorescence-based protocol, and further explored the migration process of microplastic in the river catchment. The abundance of microplastics (50-5000 µm) was (6.20 ± 0.57)-(41.93 ± 8.13) items/L, of which 57.89-95.12% were small-sized microplastics (<330 µm). The microplastic fluxes in the upper Liangfeng River, lower Liangfeng River, and upper Li River were (14.89 ± 1.24) × 1012, (5.71 ± 1.15) × 1012, and (1.54 ± 0.55) × 1014 items/year, respectively. The 3.70% of microplastic load in the mainstream came from the tributary input. Fluvial processes can effectively retain 61.68% of microplastics in the surface water of river catchments, especially for small-sized microplastics. The rainy season is the main period of microplastic retention (91.87%) in the tributary catchment by fluvial processes, while exporting 77.42% of one-year microplastic emissions from the tributary catchment into the mainstream. This study is the first to reveal the transport characteristics of small-sized microplastics in river catchments based on flux variation, which not only can partly explain the "missing small-sized microplastic fraction" in the ocean, but also contribute to improving microplastic model.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Poluentes Químicos da Água
/
Microplásticos
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
País como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article