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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Analytical Modeling of Microplastic Transport in Rivers: Incorporating Sinking, Removal, and Multi-Phase Dynamics
ClearModified Stochastic Model for Settling and Rising Microplastic Transport in Open Channel Flows
Scientists created a new computer model to better predict how tiny plastic particles move through rivers and streams. Unlike previous models that assumed all particles sink like dirt and sand, this new model accounts for the fact that some microplastics float upward because they're lighter than water. This better understanding of where microplastics end up in waterways could help protect drinking water sources and reduce human exposure to plastic pollution.
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.
Geometry-Driven Prediction of Microplastic Transport in Saturated Sediments: Fast and Memory-Efficient Pore-Scale Modeling
Scientists developed a new computer model that can predict how fast tiny plastic particles move through soil and sediment when water flows through them. This matters because microplastics can carry harmful chemicals like pesticides and heavy metals as they travel underground, potentially contaminating drinking water sources and groundwater. The model helps researchers understand where these plastic pollutants might end up and how quickly they could reach water supplies that people depend on.
A novel Eulerian-Lagrangian numerical framework to investigate microplastic transport at surface water-sediment interfaces.
Scientists created a computer model to study how tiny plastic particles (microplastics) move through riverbeds and get trapped in underwater sediments. The research found that these plastic particles mostly get stuck in shallow layers of riverbeds, especially on the upstream side of underwater hills and ridges. This matters because riverbeds act like filters that collect microplastics from our water systems, which helps us understand where these pollutants end up and how they might affect drinking water and aquatic life.
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.
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.
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.
Polymer-specific transfer and retention of microplastics at the river–sediment–groundwater interface
Scientists studied how tiny plastic particles move from rivers into underground water that could become drinking water. They found that different types of plastics behave differently - some float and stay in rivers, while heavier plastics like those from bottles and pipes sink into riverbeds and can travel into groundwater supplies. This research is important because it helps us understand how microplastics might contaminate the underground water sources we rely on for drinking water.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rivers as Conduits: A Comprehensive Model of Microplastic Fate and Transport
This study developed a comprehensive model of microplastic fate and transport in rivers, integrating processes of erosion, resuspension, sedimentation, and burial to simulate how microplastics move through river networks toward the ocean.
The missing ocean plastic sink: Gone with the rivers
Researchers reanalyzed data on microplastics in rivers and oceans and found that previous estimates of how much plastic rivers deliver to the ocean were overestimated by 100 to 1,000 times. This means microplastics actually stay at the ocean surface much longer than previously thought, lasting years rather than days. The finding changes our understanding of where ocean microplastics come from and how long marine life and potentially seafood are exposed to them.
Exploring the Sensitivity of Microplastic Accumulation Zones in Rivers Using High-Performance Particle Transport Modelling
Researchers applied high-performance particle transport modelling to explore the sensitivity of microplastic accumulation zones in rivers, identifying key hydrodynamic factors that govern where microplastics concentrate. The modelling approach provides a tool for predicting hotspot areas of microplastic deposition in fluvial environments.
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.
A theoretical assessment of microplastic transport in river catchments and their retention by soils and river sediments
Researchers developed a mathematical model to theoretically assess how microplastics move through river systems, from agricultural soils where sewage sludge is applied to rivers and eventually the sea. The model predicted that 16 to 38 percent of heavier-than-water microplastics added to soils would remain stored locally, while smaller and lighter particles would be transported downstream. The study provides a framework for understanding microplastic pathways through landscapes, even as real-world monitoring data remain scarce.
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.
Microplastics as a potential process tracer for riverbed dynamics in federal waterways
Scientists studied how tiny plastic particles (microplastics) move through riverbeds by examining sediment cores up to 3 feet deep in two major rivers. They found that microplastics can penetrate deep into riverbeds and accumulate there, which matters because riverbeds connect surface water to groundwater that people use for drinking water. This research helps us understand how plastic pollution might spread through water systems and potentially reach our drinking water sources.
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.
The Plastic Pathfinder: A Macroplastic Transport and Fate Model for Terrestrial Environments
Researchers introduced the Plastic Pathfinder, a computer model that simulates how plastic waste moves across land through wind, rain, and river systems before reaching the ocean. The model helps identify key transport pathways and accumulation hotspots, which is critical information for targeting plastic pollution interventions.
Quantitative tidal control of spatiotemporal microplastics variability in an estuary
Scientists found that tiny plastic particles in river water get trapped and concentrated near the bottom of estuaries (where rivers meet the ocean) by tides and saltwater layers. Over time, these microplastics get pushed out to sea, meaning rivers are continuously dumping plastic pollution into our oceans. This matters because microplastics can enter the food chain through seafood we eat, and understanding how they move helps us figure out where the pollution is coming from and how to reduce it.