A numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition for fluvial systems

Abstract. Rivers are the primary pathway of microplastic pollution from source to the eventual sink in the marine environment. However, like sediments, microplastics will become trapped within the fluvial system as they make their way from source to sink. Therefore there is the potential that rivers are an important reservoir of microplastic pollution globally. To explore the transport of microplastic through the fluvial system we develop a reduced complexity model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition that builds on methods developed for the transport of sediment. We apply this model to the river Têt, France, where there has been punctual monitoring of the flux of microplastic at the outlet. We find that the reduced complexity model captures the observed quantity of microplastic under reasonable assumptions of the relationship between microplastic sources and population density. The model that best matches observed fluxes of microplastic at the outlet of the Têt River requires between 1 and 10 ppm volume concentration of microplastic per 200 × 200 m in the top half a metre of soil. The microplastic of grain size 300 µm then travels within the river network with a settling velocity of the order of 10−4 m s−1. The model results imply that a large proportion of microplastic will become entrained within the sediments along the fluvial system. This model is a first step in assessing where to sample for microplastic pollution within fluvial systems and points to regions susceptible to microplastic pollution.