Scientists find highest ever level of microplastics on seafloor


“The unprecedented plastic waste tide plaguing our oceans and shores, can become as limited as our chosen relationship with plastics, which involves a dramatic behavioral change on our part…”
Captions and Photo: © SAF — Coastal Care

Excerpts;

An international research project has revealed the highest levels of microplastic ever recorded on the seafloor, with up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer covering just 1 square meter.

These hotspots appear to be the deep-sea equivalents of the so-called ‘garbage patches’ formed by currents on the ocean surface.

Microplastics on the seafloor are mainly comprised of fibres from textiles and clothing…

Read Full Article, PhysOrg (04-30-2020)

Underwater avalanches are trapping microplastics in the deep ocean; PhysOrg (03-25-2020)

Microplastics Have Invaded The Deep Ocean — And The Food Chain; NPR (06-06-2019)

Microplastics pollute most remote and uncharted areas of the ocean; Guardian UK (02-12-2018)

Plastics found in stomachs of deepest sea creatures; Guardian UK (11-15-2017)

Microplastic pollution in oceans is far worse than feared, say scientists; Guardian UK (03-12-2018)

Microplastics in the Great Lakes: Becoming benthic; Science Daily (09-23-2019)
From the Great Pacific garbage patch to inland rivers, plastics are among the most widespread contaminants on Earth. Microplastics — particles of plastic smaller than five millimeters — are especially pervasive. As they build up in Earth’s waters, microplastics are also becoming a permanent part of the planet’s sedimentary layers…

Plastic Pollution: When The Mermaids Cry, The Great Plastic Tide, Coastal Care
Washed out on our coasts in obvious and clearly visible form, the plastic pollution spectacle blatantly unveiling on our beaches is only the prelude of the greater story that unfolded further away in the world’s oceans, yet mostly originating from where we stand: the land…

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