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Spatiotemporal assessment of microplastic incidence in the Atoyac basin — a key watershed in Mexico
Summary
This spatiotemporal study quantified and characterized microplastics in freshwater and sediments across the Atoyac sub-basin in Mexico, documenting MP types, shapes, and sizes at sites impacted by urban, agricultural, and industrial activity over multiple sampling periods.
This spatiotemporal study quantified and analyzed the types, shapes, and sizes of microplastics (MPs) in freshwater and sediments from the Atoyac sub-basin in Puebla, Mexico, a region impacted by highly populated areas, agriculture, and extensive industrial activity. Microplastics were quantified via fluorescence microscopy and analyzed using complementary techniques: attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (pyro-GC/MS). Sediment concentrations ranged from 1.0 to 23.8 mg MPs kg, while item counts varied from 7.15 to 135 particles g. In water, MP concentrations reached 238 ± 42 particles L. Key trends revealed higher MP concentrations in urban and industrial areas, directly linking human activity to pollution. We observed seasonal variation in MP distribution: for both water and sediments, sites 1, 2, and 3 showed higher concentrations in the dry season, while sites 5 and 6 exhibited the reverse trend in the wet season, challenging typical MP transport assumptions due to drought-influenced flow rates. In sediments, we found complementary results for polymer composition, with rayon prevalent via ATR-FTIR, and PE, PP, and PS dominating pyro-GC/MS analyses. This study highlights the importance of combining complementary techniques to quantify and identify MPs, revealing the complex environmental factors-including spatial variations, sources, sinks, flow, seasonality, water depth, and biological factors (microphyte consortia)-governing their fate and distribution. Ultimately, this work advances our understanding of MP sources, fate, and transport, which is critical for developing effective mitigation strategies in similar environments.
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