Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA.
Coastal Resources Center, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 23;13(1):10195. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-36228-8.
Plastics are an important new component of the global sedimentary system, and much concern exists about their transport, fate and impact. This study presents the first system-scale assessment of sedimentary storage of microplastic for an estuary, Narragansett Bay, RI (USA), and the measurements of shoreline and seabed sediments add to the growing body of literature demonstrating high coastal concentrations. Microplastic concentrations in sediments ranged from 396 to over 13,000 MP particles kg dry sediment (DW), comparable to other shoreline and seafloor sites located near urban centers. As previously reported for fine sediment and other pollutants, estuarine plastic storage is extensive in Narragansett Bay, especially within the upper urbanized reaches. Over 16 trillion pieces of plastic weighing near 1000 tonnes is calculated to be stored in surface sediments of the Bay based on a power-law fit. This work highlights that estuaries may serve as a significant filter for plastic pollution, and this trapping may have negative consequences for these valuable, productive ecosystems but offer potential for efficient removal.
塑料是全球沉积系统中的一个重要的新型组成部分，其运输、归宿和影响引起了广泛关注。本研究首次对河口纳拉甘塞特湾（美国罗德岛州）的沉积储存微塑料进行了系统规模的评估，对海岸线和海底沉积物的测量结果补充了越来越多的证明高海岸浓度的文献。沉积物中的微塑料浓度范围为 396 至超过 13000 个微塑料颗粒 kg 干沉积物（DW），与位于城市中心附近的其他海岸线和海底地点相当。正如先前关于细沉积物和其他污染物的报告所述，纳拉甘塞特湾的塑料储存非常广泛，尤其是在上游城市化区域。根据幂律拟合，估计有超过 16 万亿块重近 1000 吨的塑料储存在海湾的表层沉积物中。这项工作强调了河口可能是塑料污染的一个重要过滤器，这种截留可能对这些有价值的、多产的生态系统产生负面影响，但也为有效去除提供了潜力。
