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20 resultsShowing papers similar to Design of model microplastics to study their transport in urban waters
ClearUnderstanding the dynamics of microplastics transport in urban stormwater runoff: Implications for pollution control and management
Researchers modeled how microplastics travel through urban stormwater runoff into water bodies. They found that a microplastic's shape, size, and density strongly influence whether it settles or floats during transport, and that local factors like street slope and surface friction significantly affect how quickly particles reach storm drains. The findings could help cities design better stormwater management strategies to capture microplastics.
The urban microplastic footprint: investigating the distribution and transport
Researchers investigated the distribution and transport of microplastics within an urban environment, mapping the 'urban microplastic footprint' to understand how city infrastructure and land use patterns drive the spatial distribution and downstream export of plastic particles to receiving water bodies.
Transport dynamics of microplastics from land to sea: the role of particle properties and stream morphology.
Researchers measured how particle properties including size, density, and polymer type interact with stream morphology to determine microplastic transport distances in 15 streams. Both plastic characteristics and stream structure independently influenced how far microplastics travel before settling, with implications for estimating fluxes to the ocean.
Quantifying microplastic stocks and flows in the urban agglomeration based on the mass balance model and source-pathway-receptor framework: Revealing the role of pollution sources, weather patterns, and environmental management practices
Researchers developed a mass balance model using a source-pathway-receptor framework to quantify microplastic stocks and flows in an urban agglomeration, revealing how pollution sources, weather patterns, and environmental management practices collectively determine the transport of microplastics to receiving water bodies.
Mobility and retention of microplastic fibers and irregular plastic fragments in fluvial systems: an experimental flume study
Researchers conducted experimental flume studies to compare the mobility and retention of microplastic fibres and irregularly shaped plastic fragments in fluvial systems. The study found that particle shape strongly influences transport behaviour, with fibres exhibiting greater mobility and distinct retention patterns compared to irregular fragments, highlighting the need to move beyond spherical particle models in microplastic transport research.
Distribution and transport of microplastic and fine particulate organic matter in urban streams
Researchers found that urban streams both transport and retain microplastic and fine particulate organic matter, using particle transport dynamics methods to quantify retention rates and identify streams as significant intermediary sinks in the plastic pollution pathway to oceans.
Stormwater runoff microplastics: Polymer types, particle size, and factors controlling loading rates
Researchers characterized microplastics in stormwater runoff samples collected at urban outfall locations. The study identified 17 different polymer types across various storm events, with concentrations around 0.99 particles per liter for the 500-1000 micrometer size range, and found that rainfall intensity and land use were key factors controlling microplastic loading rates.
On some physical and dynamical properties of microplastic particles in marine environment
This study examined the physical and dynamical properties of microplastic particles in marine environments, using modeling to predict how particle shape, density, and size govern transport, dispersion, and accumulation patterns.
Characterizing microplastics in urban runoff: A multi-land use assessment with a focus on 1–125 μm size particles
Researchers collected stormwater runoff from three different urban land use types and found microplastics present across all sites, with significant variation in polymer types depending on the area. By using multiple detection techniques, they were able to identify particles as small as 1 micrometer, revealing that the smallest size fractions dominated the total count. The study emphasizes that urban runoff is a major pathway for microplastic pollution reaching waterways.
Estimated discharge of microplastics via urban stormwater during individual rain events
Researchers collected stormwater samples from 15 locations during rain events to assess microplastic discharge through urban runoff. The study found highly variable microplastic concentrations influenced by catchment characteristics, and provided estimates of the quantity of microplastics released to receiving waters during rain events, highlighting urban stormwater as an important pathway for microplastic pollution.
Microplastic sampling strategies in urban drainage systems for quantification of urban emissions based on transport pathways
Researchers developed and applied microplastic sampling strategies across an entire urban municipal catchment under both dry and wet weather conditions, finding that wastewater treatment plants remove over 96% of microplastics but still emit 189 kg per year, while wet-weather emissions from high-traffic subcatchments reached 1,952 grams per population equivalent per year, far exceeding dry-weather levels.
Plastic drift : Mapping the course of microplastic transport in turbulent riverine flows.
Researchers conducted laboratory experiments tracking the 3D trajectories of 24 negatively buoyant microplastic particles spanning a range of sizes, shapes, and densities in turbulent open channel flow, generating 720 trajectories to evaluate how well conventional sediment transport models apply to microplastics. Results revealed that the inherent variability in microplastic physical properties challenges direct application of sediment transport concepts to microplastic fate prediction in rivers.
Modeling and Parametric Simulation of Microplastic Transport in Groundwater Environments
Researchers developed a parametric simulation model specifically for microplastic transport in groundwater environments, addressing the inadequacy of existing dissolved-contaminant models for studying particulate plastic pollution in subsurface systems.
Quantifying the influence of size, shape, and density of microplastics on their transport modes: A modeling approach
Researchers developed a computer model that predicts how microplastics of different sizes, shapes, and densities move through ocean water. The model accurately simulates whether particles float on the surface, stay suspended in the water column, or settle to the bottom. Understanding how microplastics travel through marine environments is important for predicting where contamination accumulates and which seafood sources are most likely to be affected.
Fate of nano- and microplastic in freshwater systems: A modeling study
Researchers modeled the transport and fate of plastic particles ranging from 100 nm to 10 mm in a river system, finding that mid-sized particles around 5 microns are retained least efficiently (only 18–25%), while both smaller nanoplastics and larger microplastics preferentially settle — with particle size having a far greater influence on river retention than polymer density or biofilm formation.
Abundance, Distribution and Drivers of Microplastic Contaminant in Urban River Environments
Researchers surveyed microplastic distribution in urban river environments and identified key drivers of accumulation hotspots, finding that land use, hydrology, and infrastructure factors concentrated microplastics at predictable locations that could inform targeted management interventions.
Catchment-scale mechanistic predictions of microplastic transport and distribution across land and water
Researchers developed the first catchment-scale model successfully predicting microplastic transport from land to water, validated against field data, revealing how soil accumulation, runoff dynamics, and in-stream transport interact to determine where microplastics concentrate before reaching the ocean.
Estimating microplastic flows across rural-urban gradients in a French catchment
Researchers estimated microplastic flows across rural-urban gradients in a French catchment, examining how land use and urbanization influence the transport and distribution of microplastic particles through the watershed system.
Factors Controlling Transport Dynamics of Microplastics in Streams
Researchers tracked how microplastics of different sizes and polymer types travel through 15 urban streams with varying levels of human modification. They found that smaller, denser particles traveled shorter distances and settled faster, while stream channel complexity and flow conditions strongly influenced transport patterns. The study provides some of the first field-based measurements of how microplastics move through real waterways on their journey from land to sea.
Progress and future directions bridging microplastics transport from pore to continuum scale: A comprehensive review for experimental and modeling approaches
This review bridges current understanding of microplastic transport modeling with monitoring data, identifying gaps between field observations and computational predictions of microplastic fate in aquatic systems. The authors propose future directions for integrating real-world data into transport frameworks.