Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Deep sea sediments have emerged as a potential sink for microplastics in the marine environment. The discovery of microplastics in various environmental compartments of the Arctic Central Basin (ACB) suggested that these contaminants were potentially being transported to the deep...
Published in: | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13647 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 |
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ftunivplympearl:oai:pearl.plymouth.ac.uk:10026.1/13647 2024-06-09T07:43:33+00:00 Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics Kanhai, LDK Johansson, C Frias, JPGL Gardfeldt, K Thompson, RC O'Connor, I 2019-03-05 137-142 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13647 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 en eng Elsevier ISSN:0967-0637 ISSN:1879-0119 E-ISSN:1879-0119 0967-0637 1879-0119 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13647 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 2020-3-4 Not known Microplastics Marine debris Arctic Ocean Sediment Deep Sea journal-article Article 2019 ftunivplympearl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 2024-05-14T23:44:04Z © 2019 Elsevier Ltd Deep sea sediments have emerged as a potential sink for microplastics in the marine environment. The discovery of microplastics in various environmental compartments of the Arctic Central Basin (ACB) suggested that these contaminants were potentially being transported to the deep-sea realm of this oceanic basin. For the first time, the present study conducted a preliminary assessment to determine whether microplastics were present in surficial sediments from the ACB. Gravity and piston corers were used to retrieve sediments from depths of 855–4353 m at 11 sites in the ACB during the Arctic Ocean 2016 (AO16) expedition. Surficial sediments from the various cores were subjected to density flotation with sodium tungstate dihydrate solution (Na 2 WO 4 ·2H 2 O, density 1.4 g cm −3 ). Potential microplastics were isolated and analysed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Of the surficial samples, 7 of the 11 samples contained synthetic polymers which included polyester (n = 3), polystyrene (n = 2), polyacrylonitrile (n = 1), polypropylene (n = 1), polyvinyl chloride (n = 1) and polyamide (n = 1). Fibres (n = 5) and fragments (n = 4) were recorded in the samples. In order to avoid mis-interpretation, these findings must be taken in the context that (i) sampling equipment did not guarantee retrieval of undisturbed surficial sediments, (ii) low sample volumes were analysed (~10 g per site), (iii) replicate sediment samples per site was not possible, (iv) no air contamination checks were included during sampling and, (v) particles <100 µm were automatically excluded from analysis. While the present study provides preliminary indication that microplastics may be accumulating in the deep-sea realm of the ACB, further work is necessary to assess microplastic abundance, distribution and composition in surficial sediments of the ACB. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) Arctic Arctic Ocean Central Basin ENVELOPE(43.000,43.000,73.500,73.500) Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 145 137 142 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivplympearl |
language |
English |
topic |
Microplastics Marine debris Arctic Ocean Sediment Deep Sea |
spellingShingle |
Microplastics Marine debris Arctic Ocean Sediment Deep Sea Kanhai, LDK Johansson, C Frias, JPGL Gardfeldt, K Thompson, RC O'Connor, I Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
topic_facet |
Microplastics Marine debris Arctic Ocean Sediment Deep Sea |
description |
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Deep sea sediments have emerged as a potential sink for microplastics in the marine environment. The discovery of microplastics in various environmental compartments of the Arctic Central Basin (ACB) suggested that these contaminants were potentially being transported to the deep-sea realm of this oceanic basin. For the first time, the present study conducted a preliminary assessment to determine whether microplastics were present in surficial sediments from the ACB. Gravity and piston corers were used to retrieve sediments from depths of 855–4353 m at 11 sites in the ACB during the Arctic Ocean 2016 (AO16) expedition. Surficial sediments from the various cores were subjected to density flotation with sodium tungstate dihydrate solution (Na 2 WO 4 ·2H 2 O, density 1.4 g cm −3 ). Potential microplastics were isolated and analysed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Of the surficial samples, 7 of the 11 samples contained synthetic polymers which included polyester (n = 3), polystyrene (n = 2), polyacrylonitrile (n = 1), polypropylene (n = 1), polyvinyl chloride (n = 1) and polyamide (n = 1). Fibres (n = 5) and fragments (n = 4) were recorded in the samples. In order to avoid mis-interpretation, these findings must be taken in the context that (i) sampling equipment did not guarantee retrieval of undisturbed surficial sediments, (ii) low sample volumes were analysed (~10 g per site), (iii) replicate sediment samples per site was not possible, (iv) no air contamination checks were included during sampling and, (v) particles <100 µm were automatically excluded from analysis. While the present study provides preliminary indication that microplastics may be accumulating in the deep-sea realm of the ACB, further work is necessary to assess microplastic abundance, distribution and composition in surficial sediments of the ACB. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kanhai, LDK Johansson, C Frias, JPGL Gardfeldt, K Thompson, RC O'Connor, I |
author_facet |
Kanhai, LDK Johansson, C Frias, JPGL Gardfeldt, K Thompson, RC O'Connor, I |
author_sort |
Kanhai, LDK |
title |
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
title_short |
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
title_full |
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
title_fullStr |
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics |
title_sort |
deep sea sediments of the arctic central basin: a potential sink for microplastics |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13647 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(43.000,43.000,73.500,73.500) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Central Basin |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Central Basin |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
op_relation |
ISSN:0967-0637 ISSN:1879-0119 E-ISSN:1879-0119 0967-0637 1879-0119 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13647 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 |
op_rights |
2020-3-4 Not known |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2019.03.003 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
145 |
container_start_page |
137 |
op_container_end_page |
142 |
_version_ |
1801372375188504576 |