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Microplastic fluxes among environmental compartments in an urban watershed
Summary
Researchers characterised microplastic sourcing and transport across atmosphere, water, sediment, and biota in the Deer Creek urban watershed near St. Louis, Missouri, sampling monthly at 10 sites over a full year and capturing flood events and weekly atmospheric deposition. Results showed that at baseflow, approximately 80% of microplastics were retained within the watershed, with floods representing major mobilisation events.
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
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