Multidecadal Increase In Plastic Particles In Coastal Ocean Sediments

Brandon, Jennifer A.; Jones, William; Ohman, Mark D.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax0587

i

Multidecadal Increase In Plastic Particles In Coastal Ocean Sediments

2019
By Brandon, Jennifer A. ; Jones, William ; Ohman, Mark D.

Details

Journal Title:

Science Advances
Personal Author:

Brandon, Jennifer A. ; Jones, William ; Ohman, Mark D.
NOAA Program & Office:

Sea Grant ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Sea Grant Program:

CASG/CUIMR (California Sea Grant)
Description:

We analyzed coastal sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin, California, for historical changes in microplastic deposition using a box core that spanned 1834–2009. The sediment was visually sorted for plastic, and a subset was confirmed as plastic polymers via FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy. After correcting for contamination introduced during sample processing, we found an exponential increase in plastic deposition from 1945 to 2009 with a doubling time of 15 years. This increase correlated closely with worldwide plastic production and southern California coastal population increases over the same period. Increased plastic loading in sediments has unknown consequences for deposit-feeding benthic organisms. This increase in plastic deposition in the post–World War II years can be used as a geological proxy for the Great Acceleration of the Anthropocene in the sedimentary record.
Keywords:

Microplastics Sediments (Geology)
Source:

Sci Adv 2019 5(9): eaax0587
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0587
Pubmed Central ID:

PMC31517049
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA14OAR4170075
Place as Subject:

Santa Barbara Basin (Calif.)
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

PMC
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:afaae7feae89bce70f59f53cad8635c930ddc40430ddc712014b5ac1c5b9ff9b
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/28652/noaa_28652_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 561.22 KB ]

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