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Plastic Debris in 29 Great Lakes Tributaries: Relations to Watershed Attributes and Hydrology
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Researchers surveyed plastic debris in 29 Great Lakes tributaries and found widespread contamination, with higher debris loads associated with larger watershed populations, more impervious land surface, and greater storm drain density.
Plastic debris is a growing contaminant of concern in freshwater environments, yet sources, transport, and fate remain unclear. This study characterized the quantity and morphology of floating micro- and macroplastics in 29 Great Lakes tributaries in six states under different land covers, wastewater effluent contributions, population densities, and hydrologic conditions. Tributaries were sampled three or four times each using a 333 μm mesh neuston net. Plastic particles were sorted by size, counted, and categorized as fibers/lines, pellets/beads, foams, films, and fragments. Plastics were found in all 107 samples, with a maximum concentration of 32 particles/m3 and a median of 1.9 particles/m3. Ninety-eight percent of sampled plastic particles were less than 4.75 mm in diameter and therefore considered microplastics. Fragments, films, foams, and pellets/beads were positively correlated with urban-related watershed attributes and were found at greater concentrations during runoff-event conditions. Fibers, the most frequently detected particle type, were not associated with urban-related watershed attributes, wastewater effluent contribution, or hydrologic condition. Results from this study add to the body of information currently available on microplastics in different environmental compartments, including unique contributions to quantify their occurrence and variability in rivers with a wide variety of different land-use characteristics while highlighting differences between surface samples from rivers compared with lakes.
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Researchers conducted field surveys of plastic pollution across the Great Lakes and associated rivers, combining surface trawl measurements with hydrodynamic transport modelling to characterise concentrations, fluxes, and pathways of plastic litter from freshwater to the ocean.
Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes System, North America: Analysis of types, abundances, and sources
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Researchers conducted the first systematic analysis of all sizes and types of plastic debris across all five of the Laurentian Great Lakes. They found that plastic pollution is widespread, with urban areas, shoreline recreation, and nearby industries as the primary sources.
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This study examined the factors controlling the abundance, distribution, and composition of microplastics in tributary, beach, and benthic sediments of Lake Erie, finding that urban tributaries contained more microplastics than rural ones and that backshore beach zones accumulated more plastic than foreshores. The findings highlight how watershed urbanization and beach dynamics control microplastic distribution in one of North America's largest freshwater lakes.
Watershed Characteristics Affect Microplastic Concentrations in a Central Illinois Urban Stream
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Researchers found that small urban streams can contain far higher microplastic concentrations than large rivers, with a central Illinois stream averaging 122 microplastics per cubic meter — suggesting that urban runoff and storm drainage are major, often underestimated sources of microplastic pollution in freshwater systems.
Variability of microplastic loading and retention in four inland lakes in Minnesota, USA
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Researchers measured microplastic levels in four small lakes in Minnesota and found that watershed size and urban development were the biggest factors driving contamination. Surface water concentrations varied widely, and sediment levels did not directly correlate with what was found in the water above. The study highlights how local land use patterns influence where microplastics end up in freshwater ecosystems.
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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.