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Sinking characteristics of microplastics in the marine environment
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This study investigated the sinking behavior of microplastics in the marine environment, finding that particle properties such as density, shape, and biofouling strongly influence whether particles float or sink, helping explain why much of the expected floating plastic is unaccounted for.
Plastic pollution is presently one of the most widespread and minimally understood problems. Vast quantities of plastics that have entered the marine environment should be detected floating on the sea surface are seemingly missing from the global budget. A vertical transfer process should be able to explain the imbalance in mass, as well as the findings of buoyant plastics at the bottom of the sea. These processes are of paramount importance to modelling efforts on the fate of plastics and microplastics in the marine environment. In order to fill this gap and develop correlations that could be used in modelling activities, we have designed and performed a 300-day long field experiment to monitor the interactions between microplastics (pellets and films) and the marine environment for five types of plastic polymers. Fouling, changes in diameter, gravimetric weight and sinking velocity were monitored and the correlations between them were studied using principal component analysis (PCA). Density, fouling and sample form (strip or pellet) were found to greatly affect the sinking characteristics of the polymers, leading to an increase or decrease in the sinking velocity. Finally, mathematical expressions for the estimation of fouling attachment and the sinking velocity with respect to time for each type of plastic were determined from the experimental data.
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Sinking rates of microplastics and potential implications of their alteration by physical, biological, and chemical factors
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Researchers conducted sinking experiments with diverse microplastic particles and found that sinking velocity depends not only on density and size but also on particle shape, and that biofouling and weathering can substantially alter sinking rates with implications for how microplastics distribute through the water column.
Characteristics and Sinking Behavior of Typical Microplastics Including the Potential Effect of Biofouling: Implications for Remediation
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Researchers characterized how microplastics of different shapes sink through water, finding that shape is a critical factor, with films behaving very differently from spheres and fibers. The study also examines how biofouling on floating plastics can cause them to sink, with implications for designing filtration and remediation systems.
Integrated effects of polymer type, size and shape on the sinking dynamics of biofouled microplastics
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Researchers investigated how polymer type, size, and shape interact with biofouling to influence microplastic sinking dynamics, finding that biofilm growth altered buoyancy and settling rates in ways that depend on the physical characteristics of each particle.
Effects of biofouling on the sinking behavior of microplastics
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Researchers studied how biofouling — the accumulation of microorganisms and organic matter on particle surfaces — alters the sinking behavior of microplastics, finding that biofouled particles sink faster and are more likely to reach seafloor sediments.
The role of buoyancy in the dispersal of marine plastic debris and the impact of biofouling : does size matter?
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This thesis examined why smaller microplastic particles (less than 5mm) appear to be disappearing from the ocean surface at higher rates than expected, investigating how biofouling—colonization by organisms that adds weight—affects the buoyancy and sinking of differently sized plastic items. The study found that size significantly influences how biofouling affects plastic transport, with smaller particles more prone to sinking.
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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.