Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Occurrence of microplastics in the Haima cold seep area of the South China Sea

Researchers characterized microplastic distribution in seawater, sediments, and shellfish from the Haima cold seep area in the South China Sea, providing baseline data on deep-sea plastic contamination in a unique chemosynthetic ecosystem.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of Microplastics and Methane Seepage in the Deep-Sea Environment

Researchers examined the accumulation of microplastics in cold seep sediments characterized by methane fluid seepage and chemosynthetic ecosystems in the deep sea, detecting 16 types of microplastics with high abundances at sediment surfaces. The findings suggest that cold seep environments act as effective sinks for small-scale microplastics under 100 micrometers and represent an important but overlooked reservoir in the marine carbon cycle.

2022 Engineering 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Tracing the Century‐Long Evolution of Microplastics Deposition in a Cold Seep

Researchers traced a century of microplastic deposition in a deep-sea cold seep, finding that burial rates increased significantly since the 1930s in non-seepage areas, while methane seepage zones showed lower microplastic levels, suggesting potential microbial degradation of plastics.

2023 Advanced Science 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Affect Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane and Sedimentary Prokaryotic Communities in Cold Seep Areas

Laboratory experiments exposing cold seep seafloor sediments to microplastics for 120 days showed that polyamide and PET microplastics reduced methane oxidation rates to roughly a third of normal and altered the bacterial communities responsible for this process. Cold seep sediments are major global sinks for methane, so microplastic disruption of this microbial activity could have implications for greenhouse gas cycling in deep ocean environments.

2023
Article Tier 2

Microplastic sink that cannot be ignored in chemosynthetic organisms

Researchers found microplastics in both mussels and squat lobsters collected from a cold seep chemosynthetic ecosystem in the South China Sea — a deep-sea environment previously unstudied for plastic pollution — with fibrous polyester particles dominating, suggesting cold-seep organisms may act as a biological sink for marine microplastics.

2023 Marine Pollution Bulletin 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of Different Types of Microplastics on Cold Seep Microbial Diversity and Function

Researchers simulated deep-sea cold seep conditions to study how different microplastics affect microbial communities. They found that microplastics made the plastisphere microbial networks more fragile than surrounding environments and disrupted nitrogen cycling and methane metabolism, while potentially concentrating pathogenic species.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Revealing the response of microbial communities to polyethylene micro(nano)plastics exposure in cold seep sediment

Researchers explored how polyethylene micro- and nanoplastics affect microbial communities in cold seep ocean sediments over a 120-day experiment. While the plastics did not significantly change overall microbial diversity, they did alter the community structure and affected methane-related metabolic processes. The study suggests that plastic pollution could interfere with important deep-sea biogeochemical cycles, including those involved in methane regulation.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of microplastics on cold seep sediment prokaryotic communities

Researchers studied how polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene microplastics affect microbial communities in cold seep sediments over a 120-day incubation period. The study found that microplastics significantly altered bacterial community structure in a type- and concentration-dependent manner, with some bacteria associated with plastic degradation increasing, while archaeal communities were less affected.

2023 Environmental Pollution 9 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments and organisms of the Western Pacific Ocean

Researchers collected deep-sea sediment and organism samples from multiple sites in the western Pacific Ocean and found microplastics at all locations sampled, with depth, distance from land, and current patterns influencing accumulation, confirming the western Pacific deep sea as a significant microplastic sink.

2020 Environmental Pollution 378 citations
Article Tier 2

Methane seepage leads to a specific microplastic aging process in the simulated cold seep environment

Laboratory experiments simulating cold seep conditions found that methane seepage accelerated microplastic surface aging — increasing roughness and oxidation — compared to weak seepage areas, suggesting deep-sea cold seeps represent a unique aging environment for microplastics.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments

Researchers analyzed deep-sea sediment cores and found microplastics present at depth, providing early evidence that deep-sea sediments globally accumulate microplastic pollution far from coastlines and at the seafloor.

2013 Environmental Pollution 1521 citations
Article Tier 2

High Quantities of Microplastic in Arctic Deep-Sea Sediments from the HAUSGARTEN Observatory

Researchers found high quantities of microplastics in deep-sea sediments from the Arctic HAUSGARTEN observatory, demonstrating that even remote deep Arctic seafloor environments have accumulated significant microplastic pollution.

2017 Environmental Science & Technology 836 citations
Article Tier 2

Prevalence of small high-density microplastics in the continental shelf and deep sea waters of East Asia

Researchers collected water samples at multiple depth layers across the continental shelf and deep sea of East Asia and found that small, high-density microplastics were more abundant in deeper waters, suggesting vertical sinking pathways concentrate certain particle types in the deep ocean.

2021 Water Research 112 citations
Article Tier 2

effects of microplastic contamination of marine snow on the deep sea food chain and carbon sequestration by phytoplankton

This study examines the effects of microplastic contamination of marine snow on the deep-sea food chain and on carbon sequestration by phytoplankton, investigating how microplastics alter the biological pump that transports organic carbon from surface waters to the deep ocean. The findings highlight microplastics as a disruptive factor in deep-sea carbon cycling and trophic energy transfer pathways.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastic type and concentration affect prokaryotic community structure and species coexistence in deep-sea cold seep sediments

Researchers conducted incubation experiments with cold seep sediments amended with four microplastic types (polyamide, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polypropylene) at varying concentrations, finding that both MP type and concentration significantly altered prokaryotic community structure and species coexistence patterns.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Weathered microplastics alter deep sea benthic biogeochemistry and organic matter cycling: insights from a microcosm experiment

Weathered (aged) microplastics deposited in deep-sea sediments were found to alter benthic biogeochemical cycles, affecting nitrogen and carbon processing by seafloor microorganisms. The findings show that plastic pollution can disrupt the chemical ecology of even the most remote deep-ocean environments.

2025 Environmental Pollution 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Frontiers in Marine Science 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Synergetic effects of chlorinated paraffins and microplastics on microbial communities and nitrogen cycling in deep-sea cold seep sediments

Researchers studied the combined effects of chlorinated paraffins and microplastics on microbial communities in deep-sea cold seep sediments. They found that the two pollutants together disrupted nitrogen cycling processes more severely than either one alone, altering the composition of key microbial groups. The study suggests that the co-occurrence of these contaminants in deep-sea environments could have cascading effects on important ocean nutrient cycles.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Comparison of Microplastic abundance in varying depths of deep-sea sediments, Bay of Bengal

Researchers measured microplastic concentrations in deep-sea sediment samples from the Bay of Bengal at depths of 225 to 1,070 meters, finding the highest concentrations at intermediate depths. The findings add to evidence that microplastics have penetrated into deep-sea environments far from the surface.

2022 OCEANS 2022 - Chennai 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination of a Benthic Ecosystem in a Hydrothermal Vent

Researchers documented microplastic contamination in a deep-sea hydrothermal vent at the Central Indian Ridge for the first time. The study found microplastics in seawater, sediments, and all six major benthic species examined, with polypropylene, PET, and polystyrene fragments being the most common types, demonstrating that plastic pollution has reached even extreme deep-sea environments.

2024 Environmental Science & Technology 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastics in deep-sea sediments and its influencing factors: Evidence from the Eastern Indian Ocean

Surface sediments from 26 sites in the deep basin of the Eastern Indian Ocean were analyzed for microplastics, finding concentrations ranging widely and influenced by water depth, distance from land, and ocean current patterns. The study extends deep-sea microplastic monitoring to the Indian Ocean and identifies oceanographic transport as a key control on plastic distribution.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic in the Deep-sea Sediment of Southwestern Sumatran Waters

Researchers found microplastic particles in deep-sea sediments off the coast of southwestern Sumatra, Indonesia — a country that ranks among the world's largest plastic waste producers. The presence of microplastics in deep-sea sediments confirms that plastic particles sink and accumulate even in remote ocean floor environments far from land.

2016 Marine Research in Indonesia 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Sinking microplastics at a deep-sea seamount in the North Atlantic: a year-long flux study

Sinking microplastics were collected from sediment traps deployed at a deep-sea seamount in the North Atlantic, providing direct evidence of how plastic particles travel from the surface to the deep ocean floor. The study quantifies the deep-sea plastic flux at an ecologically significant seafloor feature.

2025 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 1 citations