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Microplastic fluxes among environmental compartments in an urban watershed
Summary
Researchers characterized microplastic sourcing and transport within the Deer Creek urban watershed near St. Louis, Missouri by sampling atmosphere, water, sediment, and bivalves monthly across 10 sites from November 2021 to October 2022, with additional flood and atmospheric deposition samples. They found that microplastics partition dynamically among watershed compartments depending on season and flow conditions, with floods playing a significant role in redistributing microplastic loads.
Within freshwater environments, microplastics partition among water, sediment, and aquatic organisms depending on season and flow conditions, yet the complex cycle of microplastic movement into, within, and out of urban freshwater systems is poorly understood. To characterize microplastic sourcing to and transport within urban watersheds, we sampled atmosphere, water, sediment, and biota across the Deer Creek watershed near St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Water and bed sediment were sampled monthly at 10 sites from November 2021 to October 2022, while bivalves (Corbicula fluminea) were collected monthly from a downstream site. Floods were sampled at a mid-watershed site in October 2022 and February 2023, and atmospheric deposition samples were taken from the same location weekly April 2023 to January 2024. At baseflow, 80 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/558629/document