High Abundances of Microplastic Pollution in Deep-Sea Sediments: Evidence from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

Eoghan M. Cunningham; Sonja M. Ehlers; Jaimie T.A. Dick; Julia D. Sigwart; Katrin Linse; Jon J. Dick; Konstadinos Kiriakoulakis

doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c03441

High Abundances of Microplastic Pollution in Deep-Sea Sediments: Evidence from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

Eoghan M. Cunningham^*, Sonja M. Ehlers, Jaimie T.A. Dick, Julia D. Sigwart, Katrin Linse, Jon J. Dick, Konstadinos Kiriakoulakis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

215 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plastic pollution in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been recorded in scientific literature since the 1980s; however, the presence of microplastic particles (<5 mm) is less understood. Here, we aimed to determine whether microplastic accumulation would vary among Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions through studying 30 deep-sea sediment cores. Additionally, we aimed to highlight whether microplastic accumulation was related to sample depth or the sediment characteristics within each core. Sediment cores were digested and separated using a high-density sodium polytungstate solution (SPT) and microplastic particles were identified using micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Microplastic pollution was found in 93% of the sediment cores (28/30). The mean (±SE) microplastics per gram of sediment was 1.30 ± 0.51, 1.09 ± 0.22, and 1.04 ± 0.39 MP/g, for the Antarctic Peninsula, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, respectively. Microplastic fragment accumulation correlated significantly with the percentage of clay within cores, suggesting that microplastics have similar dispersion behavior to low density sediments. Although no difference in microplastic abundance was found among regions, the values were much higher in comparison to less remote ecosystems, suggesting that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean deep-sea accumulates higher numbers of microplastic pollution than previously expected.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	13661-13671
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology
Volume	54
Issue number	21
Early online date	22 Oct 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03441
Publication status	Published - 03 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
E.M.C. is supported by the Department for Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland. E.M.C. gratefully thanks Dave Williams and Hazel Clarke for their technical assistance, Prof. Jochen Koop for facilitating the μFTIR analysis at the Federal Institute of Hydrology, BfG, Koblenz, Germany, and Dr Jason Kirby for facilitating the microplastic analysis at Liverpool John Moores University. K.L. acknowledges support from the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme funded by The Natural Environment Research Council NC-Science and NERC grant NE/R012296/1 for JR17003a. We thank Prof Gerhard Bohrmann, Marum at University of Bremen, Germany for the invitations to join the research cruises M134 (KL) and PS119 (KL, JDS). This work was supported by the Hong Kong Branch of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou). We also thank the late Briar Dick for stimulating discussion.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Chemical Society.

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Antarctica
fragments
sediment grain size
Southern Ocean
synthetic polymers
μFTIR

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry

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10.1021/acs.est.0c03441Licence: Unspecified

The fate and impacts of microplastics in marine systems
Cunningham, M. (Author), Dick, J. (Supervisor) & Kregting, L. (Supervisor), Jul 2022
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

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abstract = "Plastic pollution in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been recorded in scientific literature since the 1980s; however, the presence of microplastic particles (<5 mm) is less understood. Here, we aimed to determine whether microplastic accumulation would vary among Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions through studying 30 deep-sea sediment cores. Additionally, we aimed to highlight whether microplastic accumulation was related to sample depth or the sediment characteristics within each core. Sediment cores were digested and separated using a high-density sodium polytungstate solution (SPT) and microplastic particles were identified using micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Microplastic pollution was found in 93% of the sediment cores (28/30). The mean (±SE) microplastics per gram of sediment was 1.30 ± 0.51, 1.09 ± 0.22, and 1.04 ± 0.39 MP/g, for the Antarctic Peninsula, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, respectively. Microplastic fragment accumulation correlated significantly with the percentage of clay within cores, suggesting that microplastics have similar dispersion behavior to low density sediments. Although no difference in microplastic abundance was found among regions, the values were much higher in comparison to less remote ecosystems, suggesting that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean deep-sea accumulates higher numbers of microplastic pollution than previously expected.",

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note = "Funding Information: E.M.C. is supported by the Department for Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland. E.M.C. gratefully thanks Dave Williams and Hazel Clarke for their technical assistance, Prof. Jochen Koop for facilitating the μFTIR analysis at the Federal Institute of Hydrology, BfG, Koblenz, Germany, and Dr Jason Kirby for facilitating the microplastic analysis at Liverpool John Moores University. K.L. acknowledges support from the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme funded by The Natural Environment Research Council NC-Science and NERC grant NE/R012296/1 for JR17003a. We thank Prof Gerhard Bohrmann, Marum at University of Bremen, Germany for the invitations to join the research cruises M134 (KL) and PS119 (KL, JDS). This work was supported by the Hong Kong Branch of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou). We also thank the late Briar Dick for stimulating discussion. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 American Chemical Society. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - Sigwart, Julia D.

AU - Linse, Katrin

AU - Dick, Jon J.

AU - Kiriakoulakis, Konstadinos

N1 - Funding Information: E.M.C. is supported by the Department for Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland. E.M.C. gratefully thanks Dave Williams and Hazel Clarke for their technical assistance, Prof. Jochen Koop for facilitating the μFTIR analysis at the Federal Institute of Hydrology, BfG, Koblenz, Germany, and Dr Jason Kirby for facilitating the microplastic analysis at Liverpool John Moores University. K.L. acknowledges support from the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme funded by The Natural Environment Research Council NC-Science and NERC grant NE/R012296/1 for JR17003a. We thank Prof Gerhard Bohrmann, Marum at University of Bremen, Germany for the invitations to join the research cruises M134 (KL) and PS119 (KL, JDS). This work was supported by the Hong Kong Branch of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou). We also thank the late Briar Dick for stimulating discussion. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 American Chemical Society. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - Plastic pollution in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been recorded in scientific literature since the 1980s; however, the presence of microplastic particles (<5 mm) is less understood. Here, we aimed to determine whether microplastic accumulation would vary among Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions through studying 30 deep-sea sediment cores. Additionally, we aimed to highlight whether microplastic accumulation was related to sample depth or the sediment characteristics within each core. Sediment cores were digested and separated using a high-density sodium polytungstate solution (SPT) and microplastic particles were identified using micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Microplastic pollution was found in 93% of the sediment cores (28/30). The mean (±SE) microplastics per gram of sediment was 1.30 ± 0.51, 1.09 ± 0.22, and 1.04 ± 0.39 MP/g, for the Antarctic Peninsula, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, respectively. Microplastic fragment accumulation correlated significantly with the percentage of clay within cores, suggesting that microplastics have similar dispersion behavior to low density sediments. Although no difference in microplastic abundance was found among regions, the values were much higher in comparison to less remote ecosystems, suggesting that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean deep-sea accumulates higher numbers of microplastic pollution than previously expected.

AB - Plastic pollution in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been recorded in scientific literature since the 1980s; however, the presence of microplastic particles (<5 mm) is less understood. Here, we aimed to determine whether microplastic accumulation would vary among Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions through studying 30 deep-sea sediment cores. Additionally, we aimed to highlight whether microplastic accumulation was related to sample depth or the sediment characteristics within each core. Sediment cores were digested and separated using a high-density sodium polytungstate solution (SPT) and microplastic particles were identified using micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Microplastic pollution was found in 93% of the sediment cores (28/30). The mean (±SE) microplastics per gram of sediment was 1.30 ± 0.51, 1.09 ± 0.22, and 1.04 ± 0.39 MP/g, for the Antarctic Peninsula, South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia, respectively. Microplastic fragment accumulation correlated significantly with the percentage of clay within cores, suggesting that microplastics have similar dispersion behavior to low density sediments. Although no difference in microplastic abundance was found among regions, the values were much higher in comparison to less remote ecosystems, suggesting that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean deep-sea accumulates higher numbers of microplastic pollution than previously expected.

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KW - fragments

KW - sediment grain size

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KW - synthetic polymers

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DO - 10.1021/acs.est.0c03441

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SN - 0013-936X

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EP - 13671

JO - Environmental Science and Technology

JF - Environmental Science and Technology

IS - 21

ER -

High Abundances of Microplastic Pollution in Deep-Sea Sediments: Evidence from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Student theses

The fate and impacts of microplastics in marine systems

Cite this