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A source-to-sink perspective of an anthropogenic marker: A first assessment of microplastics concentration, pathways, and accumulation across the environment
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics travel from their many sources — like cities and farms — through rivers and air, ultimately settling in deep-sea deposits that may act as long-term accumulation hotspots. The study calls for standardized measurement methods across all environments to build the reliable, large-scale data needed to understand where microplastics end up.
Source-to-sink geoscientific domain and environmental plastic cycle studies are two major scientific worlds starting to interact, taking benefit from each other. To advance in our understanding of the sharing benefits between interconnecting research communities, we firstly carry out a review from sedimentology, sources, sinks, transport dynamic and pathways of microplastics along the entire source-to-sink (S2S) profile. The main peculiarities for microplastics are the numerous and distributed sources across the environment, as well as the importance of physical properties and shape factors. Then, we propose a review of plastic mass concentration along the S2S profile to discuss influence of sedimentation rate on microplastic accumulation and to identify intermediate reservoir and final fates. Deep sea deposits, including turbidite systems are potentially hotspots for microplastic accumulation that are poorly studied, deserving much more attention to scale mass balance studies. This review finally highlights areas of synergies between S2S geoscientific and plastic communities to guide future interdisciplinary microplastic research. Most of these issues will rely on multiplying measurements across all matrices and environments based on standard technology to generate homogenized measurements and large database for plastic and microplastics.
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Researchers used water and sediment sampling across urban, riverine, and marine environments to quantify microplastic pathways from cities into marine ecosystems, finding the highest concentrations in urban areas linked to industrial activity and poor waste management. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and PET were the most common polymer types, with seasonal peaks in concentration tracking periods of high rainfall and urban runoff.
A critical review on the migration, transformation, sampling, analysis and environmental effects of microplastics in the environment
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This review provides a comprehensive overview of where microplastics come from, how they move through different environments, and the methods used to detect and measure them. It highlights that microplastics can carry harmful chemicals and pathogens, and emphasizes the need for standardized detection methods so researchers can better assess the true risks to ecosystems and human health.
The way of microplastic through the environment – Application of the source-pathway-receptor model (review)
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This review applies the Source-Pathway-Receptor model to organize current knowledge about how microplastics move through the environment. The authors found that while more studies on environmental microplastic concentrations are being published, a comprehensive risk assessment remains impossible due to gaps in understanding transport processes. The study provides a methodological framework to help guide future research and risk assessments for microplastic pollution.
Microplastics en route: Field measurements in the Dutch river delta and Amsterdam canals, wastewater treatment plants, North Sea sediments and biota
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Researchers measured microplastic concentrations across the full journey from wastewater treatment plants to rivers, canals, coastal sediments, and marine life in the Netherlands. They found that even after treatment, wastewater remains a significant source of microplastic pollution, with particles detected in river sediment, Amsterdam canal water, North Sea sediments, and marine organisms. The study highlights how microplastics travel through interconnected water systems, accumulating in sediments and entering food webs along the way.
Dispersion, accumulation and the ultimate fate of microplastics in deep-marine environments: A review and future directions
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This review synthesized existing knowledge on microplastic distribution in deep-marine environments, integrating process-based sedimentological transport models with field data to outline how microplastics disperse, accumulate, and become buried in seafloor sediments, and identifying key gaps for future research.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.