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Transfer dynamic of macroplastics in estuaries — New insights from the Seine estuary: Part 1. Long term dynamic based on date-prints on stranded debris
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Researchers tracked the transfer dynamics of macroplastics through the Seine estuary using dated Microlax packaging as markers, revealing that plastic transport is nonlinear and highly influenced by tidal cycles, river flow, and deposition events along riverbanks. The findings provide new insight into how estuaries function as temporary plastic reservoirs rather than simple conduits to the sea.
Rivers are a major pathway for plastics between lands and the ocean. At the land-ocean interface, estuaries make the transfer dynamic of plastics complex and nonlinear. That is why very little is known about this dynamic. In this respect, a specific marker (i.e. Microlax packaging) showing date-prints was systematically investigated in different riverbanks of the Seine estuary to identify the share of "old" and "recent" litter transiting through the estuary toward the ocean. Up to 70% of Microlax were "old" plastic items probably related to the meandering dynamic of the river over large time and space scales, and hydrodynamic conditions (tides) at smaller scales. This contributes together to increase the residence time of plastics into the estuary up to decades with almost endless transport, deposit and remobilization cycles. Consequently, the Seine estuary may function as a "microplastic factory" resulting from the fragmentation of macroplastics into microplastics well before they reach the ocean.
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This data inventory catalogued Microlax enema packaging collected at multiple riverbank locations along the Seine estuary in France, using date-print markings to distinguish recently deposited versus older plastic litter. Researchers used these dated packages as tracers to study plastic transit dynamics through the estuary system under complex tidal and hydrodynamic conditions. The study contributes empirical data on plastic transport at the land-ocean interface in a major European tidal estuary.
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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.