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Microplastics in Soils with Contrasting Organic Carbon Content and Clay Fraction Mineralogy: Effects on Copper and Phosphorus Adsorption
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Plastic mulch used in farming can break down into microplastics that stay in the soil, and this study found that these tiny plastic bits can make copper and phosphorus, common soil nutrients and contaminants, more likely to wash away instead of staying put. This matters because looser, more mobile copper and phosphorus can end up leaching into groundwater or nearby streams, potentially polluting the water we drink and use, especially in farmland already exposed to plastic mulch and these chemicals.
Contamination with microplastics (MP) can interfere with the dynamics of Cu and P in soils. Two soils with contrasting organic matter content and clay fraction mineralogy were selected: Haplic Inceptsol (HaI) and Humic Inceptsol (HuI). Two MP standards were used (5% m/m): MP mulching collected directly from soils under strawberry cultivation (FMP) and unused MP mulching (UMP). The soil samples were saturated with Cu and P and subjected to sequential and selective extractions (outer-sphere and inner-sphere forms). The addition of MP interfered positively in the total adsorption of H2PO4− in the HaI. No significant differences were observed between the adsorption of Cu2+ and H2PO4− with MP degradation degree (FMP × UMP). The presence of MP also increased the environmental availability of Cu2+ (increase in outer-sphere and reduction in inner-sphere forms). Contamination of soils with high organic matter contents with MP can cause negative synergistic effects in terms of increased mobility of Cu and P (increased leaching and water contamination potentials). This situation can be particularly important in areas with high discharge of MP and Cu and P-based contaminants. These environmental negative interferences in the dynamics of Cu and P are independent of the degree of MP degradation.
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