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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to The combined role of near-bed currents and sub-seafloor processes in the transport and pervasive burial of microplastics in submarine canyons
ClearUntangling microfibres: Pervasive plastic pollution in submarine canyons
Researchers analyzed sediment push-cores from the Whittard Canyon, UK, to examine microplastic and microfibre transport and burial in submarine environments, finding that microplastic pollution is pervasive even 500 m above the canyon thalweg and that sub-seafloor processes obscure any temporal signal of historical plastic production.
Large volumes of microplastics are transported to the deep sea by turbidity currents
Researchers provided the first direct field-scale evidence that turbidity currents in submarine canyons transport large volumes of microplastics including microfibers into the deep sea, demonstrating this mechanism as a major pathway delivering anthropogenic particles to deep seafloor environments.
Microplastic transport, deposition and burial in seafloor sediments by turbidity currents
This conference abstract describes how turbidity currents — underwater avalanches of sediment-laden water — can transport microplastics from submarine canyon heads to deep seafloor basins, creating localized hotspots of plastic accumulation. This mechanism may explain why deep-sea sediments contain some of the highest microplastic concentrations measured anywhere on Earth.
Sedimentary Characteristics of Microplastics Transported by Turbidity Currents in a Straight Canyon Topography
Physical model experiments revealed that ocean turbidity currents — sediment-laden underwater flows — transport and deposit microplastics in predictable patterns within submarine canyons, with higher-concentration flows retaining more particles and depositing them preferentially in wave-shaped seafloor areas. This understanding helps predict where microplastics accumulate in the deep sea, which matters for assessing long-term ecological impacts in some of the ocean's most remote and poorly studied habitats.
Turbidity currents regulate the transport and settling of microplastics in a deep-sea submarine canyon
Researchers used sediment trap observations in Gaoping Canyon offshore Taiwan to study how turbidity currents transport and deposit microplastics in the deep sea. They found that turbidity current events significantly increased both microplastic abundance and settling flux, demonstrating that these underwater flows act as major conduits for moving plastic pollution into deep ocean environments. The study provides direct evidence that submarine canyons accumulate high microplastic concentrations partly because of the frequent turbidity currents that channel particles from shallow to deep waters.
Direct Evidence That Microplastics Are Transported to the Deep Sea by Turbidity Currents
Researchers provided the first direct field evidence that underwater sediment avalanches, called turbidity currents, transport microplastics from shallow waters into the deep sea through submarine canyons. By monitoring water flow and sampling the seafloor, they confirmed that these natural events carry significant quantities of microfibers and plastic fragments to deep ocean environments. The discovery helps explain how microplastic pollution reaches even the most remote parts of the ocean floor.
Microplastics in turbidity currents: transport and sedimentation
Researchers investigated the transport and sedimentation behavior of microplastics within turbidity currents, examining how these high-density submarine sediment gravity flows carry MP particles from continental shelves to deep-sea environments and what controls where MPs ultimately deposit.
Transport and accumulation of plastic litter in submarine canyons—The role of gravity flows
Manned submersible dives in a submarine canyon in the northwestern South China Sea found plastic litter accumulations concentrated in scoured zones roughly 150 km from the nearest coast. Gravity-driven sediment flows and bottom currents were identified as the main mechanisms transporting plastic debris to deep-sea canyon floors.
Transport and Fluxes of Microplastics to Deep-Sea Sediments via Turbidity Currents through the Congo Canyon
Researchers directly measured microplastics transported by turbidity currents through the Congo Canyon using real-time monitoring instrumentation, providing the first empirical dataset on how these submarine sediment flows — among the longest and most powerful on Earth — deliver terrestrial microplastics to deep-sea sediments.
Supplemental Material: Turbidity currents regulate the transport and settling of microplastics in a deep-sea submarine canyon
This study provides supplemental materials and methods for research examining how turbidity currents regulate the transport and settling of microplastics in a deep-sea submarine canyon.
Supplemental Material: Turbidity currents regulate the transport and settling of microplastics in a deep-sea submarine canyon
This study provides supplemental materials and methods for research examining how turbidity currents regulate the transport and settling of microplastics in a deep-sea submarine canyon.
Transport of microplastics driven by turbidity currents developing over bedforms
Researchers examined microplastic transport by turbidity currents developing over seafloor bedforms, investigating how bedform morphology influences the capacity of these submarine sediment flows to suspend and carry microplastics from coastal zones to deep-ocean depositional environments.
Influence of the summer deep-sea circulations on passive drifts among the submarine canyons in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea
This oceanography study used particle tracking models to simulate how deep-sea currents in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea connect submarine canyons during summer circulation. While focused on ocean dynamics broadly, such models are used to understand how microplastics accumulate in deep-sea canyon environments.
Plastic pollution in deep seafloor of the South China Sea
Researchers documented the abundance, distribution, and transport of plastics in the South China Sea using over 100 manned submersible dives combined with video analysis, finding that large plastics concentrate in canyon geomorphological units while microplastics predominate in coastal sediments via distinct transport mechanisms.
Distribution of microplastics in bathyal- to hadal-depth sediments and transport process along the deep-sea canyon and the Kuroshio Extension in the Northwest Pacific
Researchers mapped microplastic distribution from shallow to ultra-deep ocean sediments in the Northwest Pacific, including Sagami Bay and areas beneath the Kuroshio Extension current. The study found the highest microplastic concentrations in abyssal stations and suggests two distinct transport pathways: land-sourced microplastics move to hadal depths via turbidity currents along submarine canyons, while ocean-surface microplastics sink directly to the abyssal plains below.
Interactions between internal tides and turbidity currents: an under-recognized process in deep-marine stratigraphy?
This is not about microplastics — it is a marine geology study investigating interactions between internal ocean tides and sediment-laden turbidity currents in submarine canyons and their effects on deep-sea stratigraphy.
Distribution and controlling factors of microplastics in surface sediments of typical deep-sea geomorphological units in the northern South China Sea
Researchers collected surface sediments from typical deep-sea geomorphological units — sand dunes, sediment drifts, and submarine canyon channels and levees — in the northern South China Sea to examine how sedimentary dynamic conditions control the distribution of microplastics in deep-sea environments.
Dispersion, accumulation and the ultimate fate of microplastics in deep-marine environments: A review and future directions
This review synthesized existing knowledge on microplastic distribution in deep-marine environments, integrating process-based sedimentological transport models with field data to outline how microplastics disperse, accumulate, and become buried in seafloor sediments, and identifying key gaps for future research.
Transport and Burial of Microplastics in Deep-Marine Sediments by Turbidity Currents
Researchers used flume experiments to investigate how underwater avalanches called turbidity currents transport and bury microplastics in deep-sea sediments. They discovered that microplastic fibers become preferentially trapped between settling sand grains during deposition, even though fragments are more concentrated at the base of the flow. The study suggests that these powerful ocean currents may be responsible for distributing and burying large quantities of microplastics on the seafloor.
Transport and Settling of Microplastics in Turbidity Currents
Researchers investigated the transport and settling behavior of microplastics in turbidity currents to help explain the 'missing plastic' paradox, where far less plastic remains at the ocean surface than the amount estimated to enter the ocean annually. The study found that turbidity currents efficiently transport microplastics to deep-sea sediments, providing a mechanism for the removal of plastic from surface waters.
Avalanches of Microplastics Carry Pollution into the Deep Sea
Researchers observed submarine avalanche-like sediment flows transporting microplastics from shallow coastal areas into the deep sea, confirming a previously theorized mechanism for the vertical redistribution of surface microplastic pollution into deep ocean environments. The findings have significant implications for understanding the long-term fate and accumulation of microplastics in deep-sea ecosystems.
The stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel: linking seafloor dynamics to depositional products
This study reconstructed the stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel from seafloor observations and outcrop analysis, linking observable seafloor geomorphology to the preserved sedimentary record. This geology paper focused on deep-sea sediment transport is not directly related to microplastic research.
The submarine Congo Canyon as a conduit for microplastics to the deep sea
Researchers investigated the Congo Canyon submarine canyon as a potential conduit for transporting land-derived plastic waste to the deep sea. The canyon, which connects the Congo River to the deep Atlantic, may funnel significant amounts of microplastics from Central Africa's coast to the seafloor thousands of meters below. Understanding deep-sea plastic transport pathways is critical for assessing the full extent of ocean microplastic contamination.
A transport mechanism for deep-sea microplastics: Hydroplaning of clay-laden sediment gravity flows
Researchers used laboratory flume experiments to show that clay-laden sediment gravity flows can transport microplastics to deep-sea environments via hydroplaning, a mechanism distinct from sand-laden flows and capable of carrying particles much further into the ocean interior.