Papers

61,005 results
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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

On modeling the fate of microplastics along river networks

Researchers developed and applied a modeling framework to simulate the fate and transport of microplastics along river network systems, treating rivers as key conduits transferring land-based microplastic pollution to marine environments. The model accounted for particle ingestion risks to aquatic organisms and evaluated the long-term persistence and transport dynamics of microplastics across freshwater networks.

2022
Article Tier 2

A numerical model of microplastic transport for fluvial systems

Researchers developed a reduced-complexity numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in fluvial systems, applying it to the river Têt in France and finding that a large proportion of microplastics become entrained in river sediments before reaching the ocean.

2024
Article Tier 2

Transport processes of microplastic particles in the fluvial environment : erosion, transport and deposition

This thesis examines how microplastics are eroded, transported, and deposited in river systems, tracing their movement from land sources to the ocean. The research fills an important gap in understanding how rivers act as conduits for microplastic pollution and what processes determine where plastic particles accumulate in freshwater environments.

2020 RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) 1 citations
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

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

Modeling impacts of river hydrodynamics on fate and transport of microplastics in riverine environments

Researchers built a computer model to simulate how microplastics travel and transform in river systems, accounting for particle aggregation and breakage driven by water flow. They found that microplastics clump together significantly in the early stages after entering a river, which changes the size distribution of particles flowing downstream. The study suggests that river conditions play a major role in determining what size and form of microplastics eventually reach the ocean.

2023 Marine Pollution Bulletin 26 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

Modeling microplastic dynamics in riverine systems: fate and transport analysis

Researchers developed a computer model to simulate how microplastics travel through river systems, accounting for how they enter from human activities and how they settle, resuspend, and deposit along riverbanks. The model was applied to the Tame River in the UK using four different scenarios based on plastic particle types like fibers, fragments, and pellets. The study provides a tool for predicting where microplastics accumulate in rivers, which could help target cleanup and monitoring efforts.

2025 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Modeling the transport of microplastics along river networks

Researchers built a mathematical model to predict how microplastics travel through river networks, combining water flow dynamics with estimates of human plastic inputs. They tested the model against real-world data from three river systems worldwide and found it reliably predicted microplastic concentrations. The tool could help identify pollution hotspots and guide cleanup priorities across entire river basins.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring Macroplastic Transport and Retention Dynamics in Country-Wide River Networks

This modeling study examined how macroplastic debris is transported and retained in river networks across an entire country. The research found that riverbanks and floodplains trap large amounts of plastic debris, revealing complex dynamics that influence how much plastic ultimately reaches the ocean.

2023
Article Tier 2

A numerical model of microplastic transport for fluvial systems in the land-sea continuum

A reduced-complexity numerical model was developed to simulate how microplastics erode, transport, and deposit through river systems, applied to the Têt River in France. The model successfully reproduced observed microplastic fluxes and reveals that rivers likely act as significant reservoirs trapping plastic on its journey from land sources to the ocean, suggesting current estimates of marine microplastic inputs may be underestimates.

2024 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2024-2788

Researchers developed a reduced-complexity model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in river systems, building on established sediment transport methods to explore how fluvial processes trap and store microplastics as they move from terrestrial sources toward the marine environment, finding that rivers may represent an important global reservoir of microplastic pollution.

2024
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

Dispersal and transport of microplastic particles under different flow conditions in riverine ecosystem

Researchers developed a particle-tracking model combined with hydrodynamic simulation to study how microplastics travel through river systems under different water flow conditions. They found that flow speed, turbulence, and river channel features significantly influence where microplastics accumulate and how far they travel. The study provides a useful tool for predicting microplastic transport patterns and identifying pollution hotspots in river ecosystems.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 80 citations
Article Tier 2

Macroplastic Storage and Remobilization in Rivers

This paper presents a conceptual model of how large plastic debris moves through river systems — entering, traveling, being stored in riverbanks, and being remobilized — to help estimate how much plastic ultimately reaches the ocean. Understanding these dynamics is key to improving global plastic pollution budgets.

2020 Preprints.org 5 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

A Lagrangian Model for Microplastics Transport in Rivers

Researchers developed a Lagrangian computational model to simulate how microplastics are transported through river systems, accounting for particle buoyancy, turbulence, and settling behavior. The model provides a tool for predicting microplastic fate and accumulation in freshwater environments.

2024 Jornadas de jóvenes investigadores del I3A
Article Tier 2

Nehirlerde Mikroplastik Kirliliği ve Hidrodinamik Modellenmesi

This Turkish-language review covers microplastic pollution in rivers, including sources, transport mechanisms, and hydrodynamic modeling approaches. Rivers are the primary pathway by which microplastics move from land-based sources to the ocean.

2021 European Journal of Science and Technology 5 citations
Article Tier 2

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

Researchers developed a reduced-complexity numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in fluvial systems, building on sediment transport methods and applying it to the Têt River in France where outlet flux monitoring data were available. The model found that matching observed fluxes required 1-10 ppm volume concentration of microplastic in the top 0.5 meters of soil, and predicted that a large proportion of microplastics become trapped in river sediments rather than reaching the ocean.

2024
Article Tier 2

Modelling Microplastic Transport in River Systems Using the SWAT Hydrological Model

Researchers developed a novel modelling approach using the SWAT hydrological model to simulate microplastic transport through river basin systems, integrating hydrological and physical plastic properties. The model provides a tool for understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of freshwater microplastic pollution to support mitigation planning.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences
Article Tier 2

Macroplastic Debris Transfer in Rivers: A Travel Distance Approach

A travel-distance modeling approach was applied to macroplastic debris in rivers, finding that plastic transport is strongly episodic and controlled by flood events, with smaller and more buoyant items traveling farther, and riverine inputs to the ocean likely underestimated by sampling methods that miss high-flow transport pulses.

2021 Frontiers in Water 66 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

Macroplastic Storage and Remobilization in Rivers

Researchers developed a conceptual model of macroplastic debris transport through fluvial systems, dividing the pathway into input, transport, storage, remobilization, and output phases and hypothesizing that natural channel dynamics control whether river systems act as net sources or sinks of plastic pollution.

2020 Preprints.org 20 citations