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Microplastics deposition in Arctic sediments of Greenland increases significantly after 1950
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Analysis of a sediment core from Disko Bay, Greenland, spanning 85 years showed that microplastic deposition increased dramatically after 1950, directly tracking the global rise of plastic production, with concentrations ranging from about 1,000 to over 16,000 particles per kilogram at different depths. The record demonstrates that even remote Arctic seafloors have become a long-term sink for global plastic pollution, and that sediment cores can serve as historical archives of the plastic era.
Marine sediments are archives of environmental change with pollutants potentially acting as chronographic markers of the Anthropocene. Particularly, the vertical transport and burial, as well as slow degradation rate of microplastics, indicate an eventual incorporation into the geological record. A high-resolution reconstruction of microplastics records requires high sedimentation rates, and in Disko Bay (Greenland), this quality coincides with a need for plastic pollution data. Here, a Greenlandic sediment core dated back to 1930 ± 2 was reconstructed for microplastics accumulation via micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We show 85 years of fluctuating microplastics accumulation (987 − 16,645 particles Kg−1) down to 20 µm and diversified into eight polymers. Polyethylene (47%) and polypropylene (32%) were more abundantly present through time. Microplastics accumulation increases significantly after 1950 along with major socio-economic development in the area, suggesting an influence from regional stressors. Regional microplastics reconstructions must therefore be considered in the pursuit of an Anthropocene global plastic horizon. The deposition of microplastics in the sediments of Disko Bay, West Greenland increased markedly after 1950 alongside increased regional socio-economic development as suggested by analyzes of a Greenlandic sediment core.
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