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Quantifying the effects of different concentrations of Microplastics on and the leaching of dissolved organic carbon in a soil suspension experiment
Summary
Researchers quantified the release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and other dissolved substances from soil under the influence of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics at varying concentrations using soil suspension experiments with beech forest soil from the Abruzzo mountains in Italy. The study aimed to characterise how microplastic type and concentration affect DOC leaching in terrestrial environments.
Microplastic particles are continuing to accumulate in soils worldwide. It has been demonstrated that microplastics in soils can have adverse effects on soil physics, chemistry and microbiology. Predominantly consisting of organic carbon, microplastics have also been shown to act as a source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soils. This study aims to quantify the release of DOC and other dissolved substances from soil under the influence of different Microplastic particles. For this experiment soil from a beech forest in the Abruzzo mountains in Italy is spiked with microplastic particles, sand and deionized water in glass jars. Each jar contained 500 g of soil, 500 g of clean sea sand and either low density polyethylene (LDPE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in a concentration of 0,01 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/556800/document
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