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Geological plastic forms in marine and terrestrial environments in Europe and Japan
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Researchers in Europe and Japan studied how plastic debris combines with rock, concrete, metal, oil and marine life to form new "geological plastic forms" in coastal and land environments. Examples include plastic fused with rock-like material, embedded in concrete or tar, rusted with metal, or overgrown by oysters and tube worms, affecting how plastics move, spread and persist.
Geological plastic forms in marine and terrestrial environments in Europe and JapanJulius A. Ellrich, Shunji Furukuma, Ignacio Gestoso & Sonja M. EhlersGeological plastic forms (GPFs) result from geophysical, -chemical and -biological interactions that alter plastic key characteristics including appearance, shape and motility. Thereby, GPF formation affects the fate of plastics in marine and terrestrial environments. This presentation focuses on our ongoing observational and experimental GPF research in Europe and Japan. Plasticrusts cover intertidal rocks, derive from water motion-driven plastic abrasion and contribute to marine microplastic pollution. Pyroplastics (melted and weathered plastics with a rock-like appearance) and plastiglomerates (plastics melted with geological, biological or man-made materials) are related GPFs originating from incomplete combustion. Because of their appearance, these two GPFs are often difficult to spot which makes them hard to target during coastal clean-ups. While floating pyroplastics accumulate along strandlines under prevailing onshore winds which can facilitate finding and removing them, plastiglomerates with higher bulk densities are spread more evenly across intertidal environments. Plasticoncretes include building materials used in coastal protection structures and terrestrial infrastructures in which plastic, that was (un)intentionally incorporated into concrete, may eventually be released into the environment with concrete weathering. Plastimetals result from floating plastic fibers and fragments rusting with metal debris in wave-sheltered coastal environments which impairs plastic motility. Plastisessiles are benthic sessiles, such as ecosystem-engineering oysters and calcareous tube-building polychaetes, that permanently fix plastics in benthic environments by overgrowing them which, for instance, questions the use of plastics in coastal restoration. Plastitars consist of plastics embedded in crude oil residues which have been recorded along coastlines facing oil fields and transportation routes across the northern hemisphere. Finally, structurally similar bitumen-based plastitars were found to temporarily capture and eventually release plastics in urban environments indicating a similar fate for oil-based coastal plastitars. Thereby, our GPF research directly contributes to the current knowledge of geological plastic signatures and long-term records in marine and terrestrial environments of the Anthropocene.Geological plastic forms in marine and terrestrial environments in Europe and Japan, J. Ellrich [et al.] (sciencesconf.org:micro2026:745800)
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