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Deep-ocean seafloor islands of plastics
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Deep-ocean sediment transport processes concentrate microplastics into underwater islands or hotspots, similar to how they concentrate fine organic particles, making the deep seafloor a major repository for plastic pollution.
The processes controlling sediment transport also concentrate microplastics
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Seafloor microplastic hotspots controlled by deep-sea circulation
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Researchers discovered that deep-sea ocean currents, not just vertical settling from the surface, play a major role in concentrating microplastics on the seafloor, creating pollution hotspots with the highest concentrations ever recorded in any seafloor setting. These thermohaline-driven bottom currents sort and accumulate microplastics in the same areas where they deliver oxygen and nutrients to deep-sea life. The findings suggest that the most biologically rich areas of the deep ocean floor are likely also the most contaminated with microplastics.
Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments
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Researchers analyzed deep-sea sediment cores and found microplastics present at depth, providing early evidence that deep-sea sediments globally accumulate microplastic pollution far from coastlines and at the seafloor.
Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments and organisms of the Western Pacific Ocean
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Researchers collected deep-sea sediment and organism samples from multiple sites in the western Pacific Ocean and found microplastics at all locations sampled, with depth, distance from land, and current patterns influencing accumulation, confirming the western Pacific deep sea as a significant microplastic sink.
The Arctic Deep Sea - A Sink for Microplastic ?
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This study investigated Arctic deep-sea sediments as a potential sink for the "missing" ocean plastic — the vast amounts of plastic entering oceans that are not accounted for by surface measurements. Findings from sediment cores show microplastic accumulation in the deep Arctic seafloor, supporting the hypothesis that deep-sea sediments are a major repository for ocean plastic pollution.
The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris
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Researchers analyzed deep-sea sediments from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean and found microplastic fibers up to 4 orders of magnitude more concentrated than at the contaminated sea surface, identifying the deep seafloor as a vast and previously unknown repository of the world's 'missing' plastic.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.