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Microplastics on the move
Summary
This review examines how the physical properties of microplastics — including density, size, morphology, and durability — drive their dispersal across aquatic and terrestrial environments via wind currents, water flows, and biological vectors.
The mechanical properties of plastic polymers significantly influence their potential for dispersal in the environment. The density, size, morphology and durability of microplastics enable them to move within aquatic and terrestrial environments, often being transported for significant distances by the action of air currents, water flows and the action of organisms at all scales. Despite substantial recent research, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the movement of microplastics, particularly in environments that have only recently drawn the interest of researchers, and these varied and diverse influences result in patterns of microplastic transport that are somewhat predictable at large scales and extremely complex at the fine scale.
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