Article
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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Environmental Sources
Marine & Wildlife
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Vertical distribution of microplastics in bay sediment reflecting effects of sedimentation dynamics and anthropogenic activities
Marine Pollution Bulletin2020
128 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 45
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Researchers studied the vertical distribution of microplastics in sediment cores from the semi-enclosed Jiaozhou Bay, China, finding six polymer types with distribution patterns reflecting historical changes in plastic production and local pollution sources. Sediment depth was found to correlate with the era of plastic contamination, providing a record of microplastic accumulation over time.
Study Type
Environmental
Microplastics are ubiquitous in our environment, yet we have little knowledge on their accumulation profile and changing trend. In this study, we selected the semi-enclosed Jiaozhou Bay as the research area to study the vertical distribution characteristics of microplastic in the sediment and analyzed factors that might affect this distribution pattern. We found six different polymer types and the microplastic abundance ranged between 2.5 items/kg d.w.-27.5 items/kg d.w.. Microplastic abundance was very low in deep sediment and generally showed a decreasing trend from the surface down with some shifts at different depth at certain sites. Based on our data, the total microplastics in the sediment were estimated to reach 3.71 tons in Jiaozhou Bay. This study shows that the vertical microplastic abundance profile in the sediment can not only show the microplastics pollution level but also reflect environmental factors and anthropogenic impacts.