Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Environmental and Toxicological Perspectives of Soil Microplastics in Northern Nigeria

This study examined microplastic occurrence and toxicological implications in soils of Northern Nigeria, identifying agricultural plastics, industrial waste, and urban runoff as key sources. The research addressed a gap in African soil MP research and highlighted ecosystem and food safety risks in the region.

2025 Journal of African Innovation and Advanced Studies
Article Tier 2

Assessment of Soil Microplastics and Their Relation to Soil and Terrain Attributes Under Different Land Uses

Researchers assessed microplastic contamination in tropical soils under different land uses including forest, grassland, and agricultural areas. They found that agricultural soils had the highest microplastic concentrations, likely due to the use of plastic-based materials in farming. The study reveals how land use practices and soil characteristics influence the distribution and accumulation of microplastics in tropical environments.

2025 AgriEngineering 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Global Threat of Microplastics and Their Impact on Soil Sustainability: A Case of Southeast Nigeria

This review examined microplastic pollution in Southeast Nigeria, focusing on sources from fragmented plastic waste and environmental and health impacts. The authors highlighted local knowledge gaps and called for regional policies addressing the ecological and endocrine-disrupting effects of microplastics in a rapidly developing area.

2025 Tropical Environment Biology and Technology
Article Tier 2

Microplastic diversity, risks and soil impacts: A multi-metric assessment across land-use systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic abundance, polymer diversity, and ecological risk across seven land-use types in India's Brahmaputra Valley, finding that built-up areas had the highest particle counts while forest soils paradoxically showed the greatest polymer hazard scores due to high-risk polymers, and that land-use type shapes both the quantity and composition of soil microplastic contamination.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Urban Soils From Different Land Use Activities of Cyberjaya (Malaysia): Exploring Occurrence, Relationships, Sources and Pollution Level

Researchers surveyed urban soils across five different land uses in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, and found microplastics in all of them, with construction areas showing the highest concentrations. The types of plastic particles varied by location, suggesting that the sources and characteristics of soil microplastic contamination depend on what activities take place in that area.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 7 citations
Article Tier 2

The importance of microplastics pollution studies in water and soil of Nigeria ecosystems

This review highlights the lack of microplastic pollution research in Nigeria, despite the country's growing plastic production and consumption. The author calls for more local studies to generate data needed for science-based policy on plastic waste management in African ecosystems.

2019 Analytical Methods in Environmental Chemistry Journal 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of Microplastics and Associated Heavy Metals in Urban Soils Affected by Anthropogenic Littering: Distribution, Spatial Variation, and Influence of Soil Properties

Researchers sampled soils across residential, commercial, and industrial land-use types in urban areas and found microplastics in every location, with polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyamide as the dominant polymer types, at concentrations up to 850,000 particles per kilogram. Heavy metals were also associated with the plastic particles, meaning microplastics in urban soil may serve as combined carriers of chemical toxicants. The findings highlight urban soil as a major but underappreciated reservoir of microplastic pollution.

2023 Soil and Sediment Contamination An International Journal 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Subsurface transport and environmental risks of microplastic pollution: influence of land use and seasonal variability

Researchers systematically investigated how microplastics move vertically through soil across five different land use types during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Dumpsites had the highest microplastic concentrations at nearly 40,000 particles per kilogram, while woodlands had the lowest at around 500 particles per kilogram. The study found that smaller microplastics traveled deeper into soil, especially after monsoon rains, and that land use type significantly influenced both the amount and composition of microplastic contamination.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Examining Soil Microplastics: Prevalence and Consequences Across Varied Land Use Contexts

Scientists examined microplastic contamination in soil samples from different land use areas in Makassar City, Indonesia. They found microplastics present across all sites, with the types and concentrations varying based on how the land was used, whether for agriculture, residential, or commercial purposes. The study suggests that human activity patterns strongly influence the amount and kind of microplastic pollution found in urban and agricultural soils.

2024 Civil Engineering Journal 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of land-use patterns on soil microplastics: Distribution characteristics and driving factors in southern China’s Pearl River Delta

A study across different land-use types in China's Pearl River Delta found that agricultural land had higher soil microplastic concentrations than urban or forested areas, with land-use history and plastic mulch film use as the dominant factors controlling MP distribution and polymer composition.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil microplastic pollution under different land uses in tropics, southwestern China

Soil microplastic pollution was compared across four land use types in tropical southwestern China -- primary and secondary forests, rubber plantations, and banana plantations -- finding that agricultural land uses had higher microplastic abundance than natural forest soils.

2021 Chemosphere 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of soil properties and land use patterns on the distribution of microplastics: A case study in southwest China

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination in soils across different land use types in Guizhou Province, southwest China. The study found that soil properties and land use patterns significantly influence microplastic abundance and distribution, with agricultural and urban soils generally showing higher contamination levels than less intensively managed areas.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Distribution pattern and risk assessment of microplastics contamination in different agricultural systems

Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination in agricultural soils across six sites in Coimbatore, India with distinct farming practices, finding microplastics in 81% of organic matter-removed samples. The study revealed that different agronomic inputs and land management practices produce distinct microplastic contamination profiles.

2024 International Journal of Environmental & Analytical Chemistry 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review

This global review synthesized data from studies on microplastic concentrations in soils worldwide, finding contamination across diverse terrestrial environments with higher levels near urban areas and agricultural land. Terrestrial soils are estimated to contain far more microplastic than the world's oceans, making them a critical but understudied reservoir of plastic pollution.

2020 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Land-use influence on soil microplastic pollution in Thailand: Implications for sustainable land management

Soil microplastic concentrations across seven land-use types in Thailand ranged widely, with roadside soils averaging 7,467 particles per kilogram — roughly 75 times higher than cassava fields. The findings highlight how traffic-related wear and road runoff are among the most intense sources of microplastic soil contamination, with implications for food crops grown near roads.

2026 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Review Tier 2

Sources, pollution, and ecological impacts of soil microplastics-A review

A comprehensive review summarized the sources, distribution, and ecological impacts of microplastics in soil environments, synthesizing evidence on how plastics affect soil organisms, structure, and agricultural productivity. The review calls for urgent policy action to address soil microplastic contamination as a threat to food security.

2025 Environmental chemistry and safety 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Macro and microplastics in the soil: abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions under different land uses in an agricultural sub-basin

Researchers examined the abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions of macro- and microplastics in soils under different land uses within an agricultural sub-basin, assessing how land-use patterns influence plastic pollution distribution and potential interactions with the soil environment.

2025 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

The Growing Problem of Soil Pollution with Microplastics: a Review

This review examined how microplastic accumulation in soil disrupts physicochemical properties including structure, porosity, and water retention, impairs soil microbial communities, inhibits plant growth, and causes oxidative stress, with agricultural soils identified as especially vulnerable to contamination.

2025
Systematic Review Tier 1

Plastic Pollution in the Environment in Nigeria: A Rapid Systematic Review of the Sources, Distribution, Research Gaps and Policy Needs

This systematic review examines plastic pollution across Nigeria's environment, including water, soil, air, and food. The research finds that plastic contamination is widespread but under-studied in African countries, with significant gaps in data and policy. Understanding plastic pollution in developing nations is critical because these regions often lack the waste management infrastructure to prevent microplastic contamination of food and water.

2022 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Determinants of environmental changes in human-modified ecosystems: Effects of plastics on moisture gradients, nutrients, and clay properties

Researchers examined how plastic pollution affects soil properties in human-modified ecosystems through field experiments in China and Rwanda, combined with laboratory tests on clay mixed with PET microplastics. They found that microplastics altered the structural properties of natural clay, decreasing moisture content while increasing density and load-bearing capacity. The study suggests that plastic accumulation in soils can fundamentally change moisture gradients, nutrient availability, and physical soil characteristics.

2024 Heliyon 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Soil the silent sink: unveiling microplastics contamination across different land-use types in Delhi, India

A survey across five land-use categories in Delhi, India found that industrial zones had the highest microplastic concentrations in soil (over 105 particles per 100 g), followed by high-traffic and agricultural areas, while forest soils had the lowest. Polyethylene, polystyrene, and PET were the dominant polymer types. The findings highlight urban and industrial areas as major sources of soil microplastic contamination in one of the world's most polluted megacities.

2026 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Article Tier 2

Microplastics occurrence and frequency in soils under different land uses on a regional scale

A regional-scale survey measured microplastic occurrence in soils under different land uses (agricultural, urban, natural), finding that concentrations varied by land use type and that real-world field concentrations were often lower than those used in laboratory ecotoxicology studies.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 304 citations
Article Tier 2

Conflict and Cultivation: How Boko Haram Activities Affect Soil Fertility in Some Locations from Gombi and Hong Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria

This Nigerian study examined how Boko Haram insurgency activities have degraded soil quality in Adamawa State, focusing on changes to physicochemical properties. The study documented significant soil contamination from conflict-related disturbances, though its primary focus was on agronomic rather than microplastic impacts.

2025 African Multidisciplinary Journal of Sciences and Artificial Intelligence
Article Tier 2

Distribution characteristics of soil microplastics and their impact on soil physicochemical properties in agricultural areas of the North China plain

Microplastics are accumulating across agricultural soils of the North China Plain, with this study finding moderate-to-low abundance across multiple land use types and detecting that plastic particles affect soil texture, bulk density, and water-holding capacity. Altered soil physical properties from microplastic contamination could impair crop growth and soil fertility over time, with implications for food security.

2024 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 3 citations