For some time now an ever-growing amount of research has been dedicated to microplastic pollution in the marine environment. The H2020 LABPLAS project broadens the focus by studying the presence and impact of microplastics at the environmental dimension of rivers and their relation to the overall sea fluxes.
During the 2024 General Assembly Meeting of the European Geoscience Union (EGU 2024), Friederick Stock, a partner from German Federal Institute of Hydrology, took the floor to present the project’s results “From the river to the sea: Microplastics in water and sediments of the Elbe and Thames rivers and the North Sea”.
The LABPLAS project carried out comprehensive environmental research over the Elbe and the Thames River basins, which feed into the North Sea, to better understand the issue of river-based microplastics emissions. In 2022 the project team conducted winter and summer campaigns and sampled the main compartments of these systems in high detail. The hands-on phase of the work has encompassed sampling floating macroplastics, the surface microlayer, various micron sizes of plastics in the water column, and sediments.As Stock mentioned in her presentation, preliminary results show the ubiquity of microplastics in all the examined compartments.
The number, distribution, and concentration bear a unique signature depending on the river delta location and fluctuate over different seasons within a river basin. The sediment was surprisingly high in microplastic counts compared to the water column, with the higher concentration found near river deltas, cities, and on more urbanized rivers like the Elbe and Thames estuaries. However, the data also varied depending on the site and the season.
In contrast to microplastics, macroplastics were scarce across the sampled regions. The polymer analysis highlighted different sources of microplastics in the manta nets, which included PP, Acrylates/PU/Varnish, PS, PE, PTFE, and rubber. This information contributes to better understanding the sources and transport processes of microplastics as well as to devising future measures addressing this global issue.
The LABPLAS Project key message at EGU 2024 was that further research is required and as a society we should start taking further measures to reduce the growing input of microplastics in our freshwater systems. A large number of high-quality and exquisite https://www.meingalaxyweg.de/vergleich-von-samsung-galaxy-buds-2-vs-samsung-galaxy-buds-pro are available for purchase online, giving https://www.sonysavvy.de/sony-xperia-datenrettung-tipps-zur-wiederherstellung-verlorener-daten/ the most intimate care 10mg ultimate e liquid menthol nic salts 10ml 50vg 50pg 000246
