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The Fate of Microplastics in Rural Headwater Lake Catchments
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Researchers quantified microplastic fluxes over 12 months in three rural headwater lake catchments in Ontario, Canada, using a novel particle balance approach. They found that atmospheric deposition was the dominant source of microplastics entering these remote lakes, and they provided the first observation-based estimates of microplastic residence time in freshwater lakes. The study reveals that even rural areas far from urban centers receive significant microplastic inputs from the atmosphere.
In this study, the fluxes of microplastics (mp) were quantified during a 12-month period for three rural headwater lake catchments in Muskoka-Haliburton, south-central Ontario, Canada. A novel catchment particle balance approach was used, incorporating inputs from atmospheric deposition and stream inflows against lake outflow and sedimentation. This approach provides the first reported observation-based estimates of microplastic residence time in freshwater lakes. Atmospheric deposition had the highest daily microplastic flux (3.95-8.09 mp/m2/day), compared to the inflow streams (2.21-2.34 mp/m2/day), suggesting that it is the dominant source of microplastics to rural regions. Approximately 44-71% of the deposited microplastics were retained in the terrestrial catchments and 30-49% of the microplastics in the stream inflows were retained in the study lakes. Given that output fluxes ranged from 0.72-3.76 mp/m2/day in the sediment and 1.18-1.66 mp/m2/day in the lake outflows, the microplastic residence time was estimated to be between 3 and 12 years, suggesting that lakes are an important reservoir for microplastics. Fibers were the dominant shape in atmospheric deposition, streamwater, and lake water; however, in lake sediment, there was a higher proportion of fragments. Across all media, poly(ethylene terephthalate) was the dominant polymer identified (23%).
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