Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Sinks and sources: Assessing microplastic abundance in river sediment and deposit feeders in an Austral temperate urban river system

Researchers investigated microplastic abundance in river sediments and depositional zones, finding that sediment acts as both a sink and a temporary source, with stored microplastics re-mobilized during high-flow events.

2017 The Science of The Total Environment 477 citations
Article Tier 2

Leveraging Sedimentary Process Insights to Enhance Understanding of Microplastic Deposition in Rivers

This review leverages insights from fluvial sediment transport research to improve understanding of how microplastics deposit and are buried in river networks, identifying knowledge gaps in water-sediment exchange processes and highlighting that current MP deposition estimates are biased by incomplete understanding of flow-sediment-particle interactions.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pathways: Investigating Vertical and Horizontal Movement from Riverine Environments to Oceans

Researchers investigated the vertical and horizontal movement of microplastics in riverine systems en route to the ocean, examining how physical MP characteristics and hydrodynamic conditions govern whether particles settle near riverbeds or float at the surface, and how both gravity-driven and flow-driven transport contribute to their ultimate fate.

2025
Article Tier 2

Modelling the Fate of Microplastics in river bed sediments.

Researchers modeled microplastic transport, deposition, and burial in river bed sediments under varying hydrological conditions. River bed sediments were found to act as long-term reservoirs for microplastics, with periodic high-flow events temporarily resuspending and redistributing particles.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Making waves: Unraveling microplastic deposition in rivers through the lens of sedimentary processes

Researchers examined how sedimentary processes in rivers control where microplastics are deposited and how long they remain buried. They reviewed existing work on water-sediment exchange of microplastic particles and identified key gaps in understanding deposition dynamics. The study highlights that rivers serve as major pathways for transporting microplastics from land to oceans, and that sediment processes play a critical role in determining their fate.

2024 Water Research 11 citations
Article Tier 2

The transport behaviour of microplastics in longitudinal mixing and hyporheic exchange under varied flow conditions

Researchers studied how microplastics move through river systems, examining both downstream transport and how particles interact with riverbeds through hyporheic exchange. Understanding these transport behaviors helps predict where microplastics accumulate in river sediments.

2019 DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University)
Article Tier 2

The role of biofilm and hydrodynamics on the fate of microplastic particles in rivers: an experimental study

Researchers conducted experimental flume studies to investigate how biofilm formation and hydrodynamic conditions jointly govern microplastic particle fate in rivers, examining why some urbanized and industrialized river reaches show no significant upstream-to-downstream increase in microplastic concentration despite theoretical inputs.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Assessment of the sources and inflow processes of microplastics in the river environments of Japan

Researchers mapped microplastic concentrations across 29 Japanese rivers and found plastic particles present at 31 of 36 sampling sites. The concentrations were strongly linked to urbanization and population density, confirming that human activities in river basins are a major driver of freshwater microplastic pollution. The findings demonstrate that significant plastic fragmentation occurs before debris reaches the ocean, making rivers an important area for pollution monitoring.

2018 Environmental Pollution 514 citations
Article Tier 2

Modelling the Fate of Microplastics in river bed sediments.

Researchers modeled the fate of microplastics deposited in river bed sediments, examining how hydrological conditions influence their distribution, burial, and potential for downstream transport. The models revealed that river bed sediments act as significant long-term reservoirs for microplastic pollution.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Towards sustainable management of riverine ecosystems: Variability of microplastic diversity and distribution patterns in ecosystem compartments

Researchers analyzed the diversity and distribution patterns of microplastics across different compartments of riverine ecosystems, including surface water, sediment, and soil. They found that surface water and sediments primarily accumulated smaller, low-density, fibrous microplastics, with distribution patterns mainly influenced by population density, flow velocity, and precipitation. The study reveals that microplastic communities across ecosystem compartments are distinct but not fully isolated, reflecting a balance between dispersion and environmental filtering.

2026 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology
Article Tier 2

Exploring the influence of sediment motion on microplastic deposition in streambeds

This study systematically explored how sediment motion affects microplastic deposition in streambeds made of fine sediments, finding that sediment transport dynamics play a critical role in controlling where microplastics accumulate. The results improve understanding of microplastic fate in riverine systems.

2023 Water Research 20 citations
Article Tier 2

River plastic transport and storage budget

This study provides the first systematic budget of how plastic moves through rivers and where it gets stored, finding that riverbanks and floodplains trap far more plastic than the surface water layer that is typically monitored. Rivers act not just as pipelines delivering plastic to the ocean but as large reservoirs that accumulate and slowly release plastic over time. Understanding this full storage picture is essential for estimating how much microplastic will eventually reach the ocean and for designing effective river cleanup strategies.

2023 Research Square (Research Square) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Longitudinal and Vertical Transport of Microplastic Within Sediment in Rivers and Transitional Water Environments

Researchers investigated the longitudinal and vertical transport of microplastics within sediments in rivers and transitional water environments, developing models to quantify how sediment presence affects microplastic mobility and their transport toward coastal areas.

2025 Florence Research (University of Florence)
Article Tier 2

Occurrence, distribution, and possible sources of microplastics in the surface river water in the Arakawa River watershed

Researchers investigated the occurrence, distribution, and potential sources of microplastics in surface river water along the Arakawa River watershed running through the Tokyo Metropolitan area, contributing to data on microplastic contamination in populated urban freshwater systems.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic volumes in Tokyo Bay

Researchers quantified microplastic volumes across multiple sites in Tokyo Bay, Japan, finding spatial variation linked to urban runoff and river inputs, with surface waters and sediments showing distinct accumulation patterns.

2024 Marine Pollution Bulletin 8 citations
Article Tier 2

River plastic transport and storage budget.

This global synthesis estimated the plastic transport and storage budget for rivers by measuring plastic in the water surface, water column, riverbanks, and floodplains — finding that far more plastic is stored within rivers than is transported to the ocean. The study challenges the assumption that rivers are primarily conduits and highlights them as major long-term plastic reservoirs.

2024 Water research
Article Tier 2

Sequestration and export of microplastics in urban river sediments

Researchers quantified how urban riverbeds sequester microplastics during low-flow conditions and release them during seasonal rainfall events. They found that rainfall exported approximately 35% of stored microplastic pollution from the riverbed, with wider riverbeds forming greater accumulation hotspots. The study also found that rainfall-driven scouring particularly mobilized the smallest microplastics under 100 micrometers, offering a possible explanation for why these tiny particles are often underrepresented in river surveys.

2023 Environment International 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the sediments of small-scale Japanese rivers: Abundance and distribution, characterization, sources-to-sink, and ecological risks

Researchers characterized microplastic pollution in sediments of four small-scale Japanese rivers, finding widespread contamination and identifying polymer types and potential sources, highlighting that even small river systems serve as microplastic transport pathways.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 109 citations
Article Tier 2

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

Researchers developed a numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in river systems, finding that rivers act as temporary sinks trapping significant fractions of MPs before they reach the ocean, with implications for estimating marine MP loading from terrestrial sources.

2025 Earth Surface Dynamics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Behavior of Microplastics in Fluvial Systems: Infiltration and Retention Dynamics in Streambed Sediments

Scientists used laboratory river-bed simulations to study how microplastics move from surface water down into streambed sediments. Smaller particles (1 micrometer) penetrated deeper into the sediment than larger ones, and higher water flow pushed more particles downward. This research helps explain how microplastics accumulate in river beds, which serve as both drinking water sources and habitats for aquatic organisms.

2024 Water Resources Research 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Dynamics of microplastics in urban rivers under varying hydrological regimes

Monitoring of urban rivers showed that microplastic concentrations fluctuate significantly with varying hydrological conditions such as storm events and seasonal flow changes. Understanding these dynamics is essential for accurately characterizing the river microplastic load and its variability over time.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Comprehensive Understanding of Microplastics Inflow Off the Coast of Funabashi

Researchers conducted continuous monitoring of microplastic (MP) contamination in rivers, sewage, and coastal waters around Funabashi in Tokyo Bay, finding that MP number densities showed high temporal variability and a gradual decreasing trend, with upstream river sources driving contamination that diminished toward the sea as particles settled into bottom sediments, while sewage was also implicated as a contributor to marine MP pollution.

2025 Japanese Journal of JSCE
Article Tier 2

Riverbed depth-specific microplastics distribution and potential use as process marker

Researchers examined the depth-specific distribution of microplastics in riverbed sediments, finding that particle concentration and type varied significantly with sediment depth. The findings suggest that riverbeds act as significant microplastic sinks, with deeper layers representing older accumulation zones.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Hydro-geomorphological features govern the distribution, storage, and transport processes of riverbed microplastics

This study examined how river channel shape, water flow, and sediment dynamics control where microplastics accumulate, travel, and are stored in riverbeds. Identifying these hydro-geomorphological drivers is important for predicting microplastic transport to downstream ecosystems and the ocean.

2026 Mendeley Data