College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
Shaanxi Foping National Nature Reserve, Foping, Shaanxi 723400, PR China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Mar 1;232:113298. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113298. Epub 2022 Feb 11.
Inland lakes and rivers are large reservoirs of microplastics. But currently, not too much research was done on microplastics of mountain rivers. The protection of water sources from microplastics is extremely significant for the safety of human drinking water. We quantified the distribution and variation of microplastics in the surface water from tributary (upstream water-source regions) to main stream (human settlements) in the Chin Ling-Wei River Plain Rivers, and assessed the pollution risk. Rivers in the Chin Ling-Wei River Plain contained various levels of microplastics (2.30-21.05 items/L), and the main stream of the river contained higher concentrations most commonly of microplastics than tributaries. The microplastics were fragments and films; they constituted 82.3% of the total abundance of microplastics. Microplastics with a particle size < 500 µm accounted for 64.3% of all the samples. As rivers flow from the mountains to the plains, the land-use types along the rivers become more multifunctional. Thus, the risk of river microplastic pollution increases sharply with distance downstream. Our research explored the microplastics pollution in the Chin Ling mountains based on topography and land-use types and thus provides a reference for further studies exploring the spatial distribution characteristics of microplastics in small-scale rivers and for pollution risk assessments.
内陆湖泊和河流是微塑料的大型储存库。但目前，对山区河流的微塑料研究还不多。保护水源免受微塑料污染对于人类饮用水的安全极其重要。我们定量分析了秦岭渭河流域从支流（上游水源区）到干流（人类住区）地表水的微塑料分布和变化，并评估了污染风险。秦岭渭河流域的河流中含有不同水平的微塑料（2.30-21.05 个/升），通常干流中微塑料的浓度比支流高。微塑料主要为碎片和薄膜，占微塑料总丰度的 82.3%。粒径<500μm 的微塑料占所有样品的 64.3%。随着河流从山区流向平原，河流沿线的土地利用类型变得更加多样化。因此，随着与河流下游距离的增加，河流微塑料污染的风险急剧增加。我们的研究基于地形和土地利用类型探讨了秦岭山区的微塑料污染情况，为进一步研究小尺度河流中微塑料的空间分布特征和污染风险评估提供了参考。
