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High spatiotemporal resolution analysis on suspended sediment and microplastic transport of a lowland river
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Researchers conducted dense spatial and time-series monitoring of microplastic and suspended sediment transport along Hungary's Tisza River, finding that microplastic concentrations closely tracked sediment levels during floods but diverged during low water. Most detected particles were fibers likely from wastewater, and the data showed that floods, tributaries, and river dams all influence how microplastics move through river systems.
The suspended sediment (SS) and microplastic (MP) transport in rivers is quite a complex process, influenced by several spatially and temporally changing factors (e.g., hydrology, sediment availability, human impact). Researchers usually investigate these factors individually and based on limited repetition in space and time. Therefore, this study aims to compare the driving factors of SS and MP transport by applying dense temporal (72 measurements) and spatial monitoring (at 26 sites). This study was performed on the medium-sized Tisza River, Central Europe. The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) was measured by water sampling and estimated based on Sentinel-2 images, while MP concentration was measured by pumping of water (1 m3). The SSC of the Tisza varied between 12.6 and 322.5 g/m3, whereas the MP concentration ranged 0-129 item/m3. Most of the transported particles were fibers (81-98 %), thus, it was assumed that MPs originated from wastewater. The results reflect that the hydrological conditions basically influence the SS and MP concentrations, as a strong positive correlation was found (ρSSC-MP = 0.6) between them during a year; however, the correlation during floods (minor floods: ρ = 0.63; medium floods: ρ = 0.41) was higher than at low stages (ρ = 0.1). It was assumed that run-off and mobilization of channel materials both contribute to increased SS and MP transport during floods. In contrary, the importance of mobilization of channel materials and wastewater input increase during low stages. The repeated measurements revealed that slope and velocity conditions, proximity of sources, tributaries, and dams influence the longitudinal changes in SS and MP concentrations. However, the effects of tributaries and dams are ambiguous (especially for MP) and require further research. The longitudinal measurements were conducted at low stages; hence, moderate negative correlations (ρ2021 = -0.35; ρ2022 = -0.41) were found between the SS and MP concentrations. Therefore, additional monitoring during (overbank) floods and denser spatial sampling are required to precisely reveal the spatiotemporal changes of SS and MP concentrations in rivers.
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