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Article ? AI-assigned paper type based on the abstract. Classification may not be perfect — flag errors using the feedback button. Tier 2 ? Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence. Environmental Sources Marine & Wildlife Sign in to save

Microplastics, an Uncharacterized Fraction of the Ocean´s Organic Carbon Inventory

2023
Luis Medina Faull, Gordon T. Taylor, Steven R. Beaupré

Summary

This study tested whether standard elemental analysis used to measure ocean organic carbon also inadvertently counts plastic-derived carbon from microplastics in samples. The results show that microplastics represent an uncharacterized fraction of ocean organic carbon inventories, potentially affecting estimates of the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle.

Study Type Environmental

We tested whether Elemental Analysis (EA) used to quantify organic matter from marine samples also include plastic-derived carbon. Estuarine sediment was used as the natural, background sedimentary organic carbon pool due to its higher carbon content compared to suspended POM and DOM in seawater. Microplastic samples were mixed with sediment to produce a range of weight percentages of MPs and analyzed by EA. Data set contains raw data from the EA conducted on pure plastic, pure sediments and admixtures.

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