Integrated Approaches to Monitoring Microplastics in the Geological Component of Marine Environment

Summary The increase in the amount of waste from the polymer industry has created the problem of increasing risks of the marine environment pollution with plastic waste and microplastics. The distribution of microplastics in water areas is a complex process that depends on a number of natural factors, and the final link in the accumulation of polymers and their fragments is the geological environment. The study of microplastics in bottom sediments and coastal accumulative sediments helps to determine the patterns of their distribution and risks of impact on the environment, which will contribute to the development of an effective strategy for their monitoring and minimization of the impact on the environment. The state scientific institution “MariGeoEcoCenter of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” as part of the DOORS international project started researching microplastics within coastal areas, as well as in bottom sediments of the Black Sea shelf areas in 2021. The practice of laboratory research proved the need to use complex methods of qualitative determination of microplastic particles, reliable unified methods of identification of its different composition, shape and size. Today, the process of determining pollutants consists of methods of extracting them from and composition of natural mineral and organic components, visualization with the help of optical devices and determination of physicochemical characteristics with the use of spectrometers. Continuation of research, accumulation and systematization of the obtained results, acquisition of practical experience in the selection and processing of microplastic samples will generally determine the success of solving tasks related to research on the arrival and distribution of synthetic polymers in the geological components of marine ecosystems.