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ram-24-mp/Pb210Modeler: Pb210Modeler
AI summary Read the abstract
This entry is a software tool (not a research paper) that adds functionality to a radiocarbon dating model for calculating sediment accumulation rates, with a new option to track microplastic and carbon accumulation in sediment cores.
New option for calculating accumulation rates for additional materials (carbon, microplastics, etc.) within the core added.
More Papers Like This
Microplastic contaminants potentially distort our understanding of the ocean’s carbon cycle
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Researchers demonstrated that microplastic contamination in sedimentary organic matter samples causes systematic and predictable errors in elemental analysis, stable isotope (delta-13C), and radiocarbon (delta-14C) measurements used to study the ocean carbon cycle. Even 1% polyethylene contamination by mass can lower radiocarbon age estimates by ~4,000 years and misattribute ~60% of carbon to terrestrial sources instead of the true 20%, with errors scaling predictably with contamination level and polymer type.
Accelerating microplastic contamination in 210Pb dated sediment cores from an urbanized coastal lagoon (NW Mexico) since the 1990s
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Using lead-210 dating of sediment cores, researchers tracked microplastic accumulation over the past century in a coastal lagoon in northwestern Mexico. They found that microplastic levels have increased dramatically since the 1990s, closely following the global rise in plastic production. This historical record shows that microplastic pollution in coastal waters used for fishing and recreation has been accelerating for decades.
Pb-210 geochronology applied to the historical reconstruction of microplastic pollution in fluvial sediments and interpretative analysis of its occurrences in the Corumbataí river basin, São Paulo
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Researchers applied Pb-210 radiometric dating to sediment cores from the Corumbatai river basin in Sao Paulo, Brazil to reconstruct the historical deposition of microplastics in fluvial sediments, quantifying and characterizing plastic particles across four sediment profiles to link contamination timing to regional urban, industrial, and agricultural activities.
Can a Sediment Core Reveal the Plastic Age? Microplastic Preservation in a Coastal Sedimentary Record
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Researchers used a sediment core from the NW Mediterranean Sea combined with state-of-the-art microplastic identification methods to reconstruct the historical record of microplastic pollution down to 11 micrometers in size. The core revealed a clear acceleration in microplastic burial rates since the 1960s and provided evidence that some polymer types are preserved well in sediment.
Microplastic contaminants potentially distort our understanding of the ocean's carbon cycle
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Researchers tested whether conventional methods for quantifying organic matter and isotopic composition from marine samples are distorted by microplastic-derived carbon from polyethylene and polystyrene, using accelerator mass spectrometry on estuarine sediment-plastic admixtures to assess contamination effects on carbon cycle measurements.
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