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Author Correction: Non-buoyant microplastic settling velocity varies with biofilm growth and ambient water salinity
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This is a published correction to a study on how microplastics sink through water, fixing labeling errors on the axes of a key figure showing the relationship between particle size and settling speed. The original research examined how factors like biofilm growth — the coating of microbes that accumulates on plastic surfaces — and water salinity affect how quickly non-floating microplastics sink.
and errors in the labelling of the y-axis and x-axis in panels (a) and (b).The original version of Figure 4 displayed a single scale marker tick on the x-axis, and the x-axis was labelled "Equivalent Diameter (mm)" and the y-axis was labelled "Velocity (mm/s)".The corrected version of Figure 4 displays two scale marker ticks on the x-axis, and the x-axis is labelled "log10 (equivalent diameter)" and the y-axis is labelled "log10 (velocity)".
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Correction to “SettlingVelocities of SmallMicroplastic Fragments and Fibers”
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This paper provides a published correction to a prior study on settling velocities of small microplastic fragments and fibers, addressing errors in the original data, calculations, or figures to ensure accurate reporting of particle sedimentation behavior relevant to environmental transport modeling.
Non-buoyant microplastic settling velocity varies with biofilm growth and ambient water salinity
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Researchers investigated how biofilms (thin layers of bacteria that grow on plastic surfaces), water salinity, and suspended clay affect how fast microplastics sink in water, finding that biofilm growth alone increased sinking speed by up to 130% within just hours. These findings show that current models predicting where microplastics end up in rivers and oceans are too simplistic, and that biological and chemical conditions must be factored in for accurate predictions.
Assessing the Settling Velocity of Biofilm-Encrusted Microplastics: Accounting for Biofilms as an Equivalent to Surface Roughness
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This study investigated how biofilm growth on microplastics affects their sinking behavior in water. Researchers found that treating the biofilm as a form of surface roughness helps accurately predict how quickly biofouled plastic particles settle, with polyethylene particles sinking sooner than polypropylene ones. The findings improve our understanding of how microplastics move through water columns once marine organisms begin colonizing their surfaces.
Author Correction: Tracing microplastics in aquatic environments based on sediment analogies
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This is a published correction notice for a paper on tracing microplastics in aquatic environments using sediment analogies, indicating an amendment was made to the original research.
Experimental assessment of settling velocity of pristine and biofouled microplastics
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Researchers experimentally measured how biofouling alters the settling velocity of microplastic particles, finding that biofilm growth on buoyant plastic fragments caused them to sink more rapidly. The results demonstrate that biological colonization of plastic surfaces is a key mechanism driving the vertical transport of microplastics from surface water to the seafloor.
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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.