Grice Marine Laboratory, College of Charleston, 205 Ft. Johnson Rd., Charleston, SC 29412, USA.
Department of Biology, The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina, 171 Moultrie St., Charleston, SC 29409, USA.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2019 Aug;145:569-582. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.061. Epub 2019 Jun 28.
Microplastics (<5 mm) are ubiquitous in the marine environment, occurring in both sediments and surface waters worldwide. However, few studies have documented the presence of microplastics and tire wear particles in coastal rivers. A survey of microplastics and low-density tire wear particles (≥63 μm) in the sediment and surface water of the three major tributaries within the Charleston Harbor estuary was conducted. Intertidal sediment, subtidal sediment, and sea surface microlayer concentrations ranged from 0 to 652 microplastics/m, 3-4,375 microplastics/kg wet weight, and 3-36 microplastics/L, respectively. Blue fibers and tire wear particles were the two most abundant microplastic types observed, constituting 26.2% and 17.1%, respectively, of total microplastics. Tire wear particles were primarily identified by morphology, and ATR-FTIR analysis was conducted for a small subset (n = 5) of larger particles (≥500 μm). The present study provides the first microplastic field assessment of low-density tire wear particles in estuarine tributaries.
微塑料（<5 毫米）在海洋环境中无处不在，存在于世界各地的沉积物和地表水。然而，很少有研究记录沿海河流中微塑料和轮胎磨损颗粒的存在。本研究对查尔斯顿港河口三个主要支流的沉积物和地表水的微塑料和低密度轮胎磨损颗粒（≥63 微米）进行了调查。潮间带沉积物、亚潮带沉积物和海面微层的浓度范围分别为 0 至 652 个微塑料/立方米、3-4375 个微塑料/千克湿重和 3-36 个微塑料/升。蓝色纤维和轮胎磨损颗粒是观察到的两种最丰富的微塑料类型，分别占总微塑料的 26.2%和 17.1%。轮胎磨损颗粒主要通过形态进行识别，并且对一小部分（n=5）较大颗粒（≥500 微米）进行了 ATR-FTIR 分析。本研究首次对河口支流中的低密度轮胎磨损颗粒进行了微塑料实地评估。
