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Downward migrating microplastics in lake sediments is a tricky indicator for the onset of the Anthropocene

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Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Saija Saarni, Natalja Buhhalko, Marta Barone, Marta Barone, Marta Barone, Normunds Stivriņš, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Saija Saarni, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Saija Saarni, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Natalija Suhareva, Natalija Suhareva, Marta Barone, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Natalija Suhareva, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Normunds Stivriņš, Marta Barone, Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Marta Barone, Marta Barone, Marta Barone, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Natalja Buhhalko, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Normunds Stivriņš, Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Normunds Stivriņš, Normunds Stivriņš, Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Natalja Buhhalko, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Natalja Buhhalko, Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Natalija Suhareva, Jes Vollertsen Natalija Suhareva, Saija Saarni, Natalija Suhareva, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Saija Saarni, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Saija Saarni, Saija Saarni, Wojciech Tylmann, Jes Vollertsen Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Saija Saarni, Alvise Vianello, Wojciech Tylmann, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Normunds Stivriņš, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Wojciech Tylmann, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Wojciech Tylmann, Marta Barone, Jes Vollertsen Marta Barone, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Wojciech Tylmann, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Inta Dimante‐Deimantovica, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen Alvise Vianello, Alvise Vianello, Jes Vollertsen Jes Vollertsen

Summary

This paper questions whether microplastics in lake sediment cores are a reliable marker for the start of the Anthropocene epoch. Researchers found that microplastics can migrate downward through sediment layers over time, which could give misleadingly old dates and complicate their use as a precise geological time marker.

Study Type Environmental

Abstract Plastics are a particulate novel material in Earth’s history. Due to its persistence and wide-range presence, it has a great potential of being a global age marker and correlation tool between sedimentary profiles. Hence, microplastics are currently considered among the array of proxies to delimit the Anthropocene Epoch (starting from the year 1950 and above). Here we present a study of microplastics deposition history inferred from sediment profiles of three lakes in north-eastern Europe. The sediments were dated with independent proxies from nowadays back to the first half of the 18th century. Surprisingly, regardless of the sediment layer age, we found microplastic particles throughout the cores in all sites. The factor driving microplastic particles to penetrate deeper in sediment layers appears to be particles' dimensional (aspect) ratio: less elongated particles tend to be transported deeper while more elongated particles and fibres have a decreased ability to be mobile. We conclude that interpretation of microplastics distribution in sediment profiles is ambiguous and does not strictly indicate the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch.

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