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Plastic Pollution in the Aquatic Ecosystem of the High-Mountain Lake Markakol (Kazakhstan): First Observations and Conclusions
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This first study of micro- and macroplastics in Lake Markakol, a high-mountain lake in Kazakhstan, documented plastic fragments ranging from fishing line nets to food packaging at concentrations of 837.5 µg/m³ in tributaries and 482.1 µg/m³ in lake water. The main identified pollution sources were fishing, tourism, and inadequate household waste management infrastructure, underscoring the global reach of plastic pollution even in remote alpine environments.
The primary data of micro- and macroplastics in the aquatic environment of Lake Markakol, located in the mountainous area of East Kazakhstan, are presented. The determination of micro- and macroplastics in water is based on sieving, drying, liquid oxidation, density separation and visual sorting using a microscope with a magnification of 40×. The detected plastic fragments in the aquatic environment include fishing line nets, Styrofoam balls, plastic bags, plastic bottles, wrappers, food labels and packages and other types of plastic waste. The sizes of the plastic fragments were ˃25 mm, 1.0–5.0 mm and 0.315–1.0 mm. The concentration of plastic in Lake Markakol was 837.5 µg/m3 in the tributaries and 482.1 µg/m3 in the lake water. The detected plastic mainly corresponded to sieve mesh sizes of 1.0–5.0 mm and 0.315–1.0 mm. The main sources of plastic pollution are fishing, tourism and the lack of adequate infrastructure for household waste management. These data emphasize the importance of measures to regulate plastic waste management in order to preserve the Lake Markakol ecosystem and maintain human health.
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