Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil: A comprehensive review of occurrence, sources, fate, analytical techniques and potential impacts

This review analyzed microplastic contamination data from 62 sites across 17 countries and found that soil microplastic levels varied enormously depending on land use, with agricultural and urban soils most contaminated. The plastics affected soil organisms, plants, and microorganisms in complex ways, but inconsistent sampling methods across studies make it difficult to compare results and determine safe exposure thresholds.

2024 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 50 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Global soil microplastic assessment in different land-use systems is largely determined by the method of analysis: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis pooled data from 89 studies to measure microplastic levels in soils across different land uses worldwide. A key finding is that reported microplastic concentrations vary wildly depending on the testing method used, making it hard to compare studies. This highlights that before we can truly understand how much microplastic is in the soil that grows our food, scientists need to agree on standardized measurement methods.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils: a review of possible sources, analytical methods and ecological impacts

This review of over 60 studies examines the sources, global distribution, and analytical methods for microplastics in soil, finding that agricultural soils are particularly contaminated via sewage sludge application, plastic mulch, and atmospheric deposition. The authors call for standardized extraction and identification protocols to enable cross-study comparisons.

2020 Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology 242 citations
Article Tier 2

Contaminación del suelo por microplásticos: panorama actual

This review synthesizes current knowledge on soil contamination by microplastics as an emerging pollutant, analyzing 96 peer-reviewed studies from databases including Scopus and Web of Science to characterize sources, distribution patterns, and ecological effects of microplastics in terrestrial soil matrices.

2022 PÄDI Boletín Científico de Ciencias Básicas e Ingenierías del ICBI 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic in Soil: a Review of Detection Methods

This review examines published approaches for detecting and identifying microplastics in soil environments, synthesizing sampling, extraction, and characterization methods to address the lack of standardization that hinders cross-study comparisons. Researchers found that unifying detection methods is essential for developing a common understanding of microplastic prevalence and impact in terrestrial ecosystems.

2024 Проблемы агрохимии и экологии
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soils: assessment, analytics and risks

This review examines microplastic prevalence, analytical methods, and risks in soils, finding that terrestrial microplastic contamination has received far less attention than marine accumulation despite comparable or greater abundance. Researchers evaluated current difficulties in soil microplastic sampling, isolation, and identification and called for standardised methodologies to assess ecological and human health risks.

2018 Environmental Chemistry 150 citations
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

Microplásticos, ambiente y salud humana. Una revisión a nivel global

A Spanish-language systematic review analyzed over 11,795 articles from ScienceDirect on microplastics in aquatic environments, soils, and human health, summarizing contamination patterns and calling for further research on human health impacts.

2024 Gestión y Ambiente
Article Tier 2

Errors and recommended practices that should be identified to reduce suspected concentrations of microplastics in soil and groundwater: A review

This review analyzed over 185 studies on microplastics in soil and groundwater, identifying widespread methodological errors in sample quantity, quality assurance, identification, and classification, and providing recommendations to improve the reliability of future research in these environments.

2022 Environmental Technology & Innovation 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics research in Mexico (2015-2024) in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: a summary of locations, media, characterization methods and findings

Researchers reviewed 38 indexed studies on microplastic contamination in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems across Mexico published between 2015 and 2024, finding research distributed across soils/sediments (34%), fauna (34%), water (24%), flora (5%), and air (3%). The review highlights substantial methodological variability across studies and calls for standardised protocols to improve comparability of Mexican microplastics research.

2024 Journal of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Article Tier 2

Quality assessment of research studies on microplastics in soils: A methodological perspective

A methodological quality assessment of published soil microplastic studies identified widespread inconsistencies in extraction, identification, and reporting protocols that limit comparability and reliability of findings. The review recommends adoption of standardized quality criteria to improve the rigor and reproducibility of soil microplastic research.

2022 Chemosphere 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Focus topics on microplastics in soil: Analytical methods, occurrence, transport, and ecological risks

This review examined analytical methods, occurrence data, transport mechanisms, and ecological risks for microplastics in soil environments, finding significant methodological variability and widespread contamination across land use types. The authors call for a universal analytical standard and identify transport via wind, water, and soil fauna as key vectors for microplastic movement in soils.

2019 Environmental Pollution 464 citations
Article Tier 2

Influences of land use and depth profile on the characteristics of microplastics in agricultural soils

Researchers examined how land use and soil depth profile influence microplastic characteristics in agricultural soils, finding that wastewater and sludge application, plastic mulching, and atmospheric deposition are key sources, and that MP type and abundance vary with soil management practice and depth, highlighting the importance of vertical distribution in soil MP studies.

2025
Article Tier 2

A methodological approach of the current literature on microplastic contamination in terrestrial environments: Current knowledge and baseline considerations

This review of microplastic pollution in terrestrial and agricultural soils finds that a lack of standardized extraction and identification procedures makes most studies incomparable, calling for baseline contamination controls and harmonized reporting of concentrations, morphotypes, and analytical methods. The authors identify knowledge gaps for future research and provide minimum recommended procedures for field studies.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 155 citations
Article Tier 2

Global soil microplastic assessment in different land-use systems is largely determined by the method of analysis

Researchers synthesised data from 305 sites across 51 global studies to assess microplastic pollution in managed soils, finding that analytical method — particularly use of high-density separation and organic matter removal — was the primary determinant of reported microplastic loads, with a global mean of 2,081 items per kilogram of soil.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplásticos: Presencia y diseminación en el medio ambiente

This Spanish-language review examines the current state of microplastic research, covering characterization methods, their presence in water, soil, and air, impacts on food webs and human health, and strategies needed to address this global environmental challenge.

2023 Investigación y Ciencia de la Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Innovations in analytical methods to assess the occurrence of microplastics in soil

This review summarizes emerging techniques for extracting, analyzing, and characterizing microplastics in soil, noting that soil matrix complexity makes standardized methods challenging. Researchers found that globally, soil microplastic concentrations ranged up to 690,000 particles per kilogram, though most data comes from China. The study highlights the urgent need for standardized analytical methods to enable meaningful comparison of microplastic soil contamination across different studies and laboratories.

2022 Journal of environmental chemical engineering 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Methods to optimize the collection, pretreatment, extraction, separation, and examination of microplastics in soil, groundwater, and human samples

This review evaluates and compares methods for detecting microplastics in soil, groundwater, and human tissue samples, finding significant inconsistencies that make it hard to compare results across studies. Standardizing these detection methods is critical for accurately measuring human microplastic exposure and understanding its health effects.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 10 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Drivers of soil microplastic contamination and machine learning-based abundance standardization: A global meta-analysis

This global meta-analysis of 1,247 monitoring datasets found that methodological factors account for over half (51.75%) of the variation in reported soil microplastic abundance, while land use type drives much of the remaining variation. Machine learning-based standardization revealed that agricultural soils had the highest contamination, underscoring the pathway from plastic-polluted soil to food crops.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

An overview of the potential risks, sources, and analytical methods for microplastics in soil

This review systematically covers the potential risks, sources, analytical methods, and characteristics of microplastics in soil, identifying agricultural plastic films, sewage sludge application, and atmospheric deposition as major sources and calling for standardized detection protocols.

2022 AIMS environmental science 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as an emerging hazard to terrestrial and marine ecosystems: Sources, Occurrence and Analytical Methods

This review summarized the sources, occurrence, and detection methods for microplastics across multiple environmental compartments, noting that methodological limitations make comparison across studies difficult. The review calls for standardized analytical approaches to better quantify global microplastic contamination.

2021 E3S Web of Conferences
Article Tier 2

Revisión de métodos de muestreo, detección, caracterización de microplásticos y control de calidad en columna de agua y sedimentos

This Spanish-language review surveys the methods used to sample, detect, and characterize microplastics in water and sediments, cataloguing the advantages and limitations of each approach. The authors highlight that the lack of standardized protocols makes it impossible to reliably compare studies — a critical obstacle to understanding how widespread microplastic contamination really is and what it means for ecosystems and human health.

2023 Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua 2 citations
Clinical Trial Tier 1

Investigating microplastic dynamics in soils: Orientation for sampling strategies and sample pre‐procession

This study develops improved methods for sampling and detecting microplastics in soil, addressing a major gap in current research. Standardized sampling strategies are essential because microplastic distribution in soil is highly variable, making it easy to miss contamination with inconsistent methods. Better detection protocols will help scientists accurately measure how much microplastic is accumulating in agricultural and natural soils.

2020 Land Degradation and Development 55 citations
Article Tier 2

State of knowledge and future research needs on microplastics in groundwater

This study used text-mining analysis of the scientific literature to summarize the state of knowledge on microplastics in groundwater, identifying research gaps around sources, transport through soil, and human exposure through drinking water. The review found that groundwater microplastic research lags behind surface water studies and that uniform detection methods are lacking.

2022 Journal of Water and Health 16 citations