Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Purpose-Designed Hydrogeological Maps in Wide Interconnected Surface-Groundwater Systems: The Test Example of Parma Alluvial Aquifer and Taro River Basin (Northern Italy)

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper presents a methodology for designing hydrogeological maps of surface water and groundwater systems in northern Italy.

2023 Preprints.org 8 citations
Review Tier 2

Towards nutrient neutrality: A review of agricultural runoff mitigation strategies and the development of a decision-making framework.

This paper is not about microplastics; it reviews agricultural runoff mitigation strategies to reduce nutrient pollution in waterways.

2023 PubMed
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Global meta-analysis of microplastic contamination in reservoirs with a novel framework

Microplastic abundance in reservoirs worldwide varied over 2-6 orders of magnitude, with small particles (<1 mm) comprising over 60% of total counts; geographic location, seasonal variation, and land-use type were the main drivers, and current mitigation policies were found insufficient.

2021 Water Research 185 citations
Article Tier 2

Model-based analysis of erosion-induced microplastic delivery from arable land to the stream network of a mesoscale catchment

Researchers applied a model-based analysis to quantify how erosion transports microplastics from agricultural land to the stream network of a mesoscale catchment, finding that surface runoff and soil erosion are significant pathways for microplastic delivery to inland waters.

2024 SOIL 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in agricultural drainage water: A link between terrestrial and aquatic microplastic pollution

Agricultural drainage water was identified as a direct link between microplastic contamination in farmland soils and downstream aquatic systems, with drain tile water carrying significant loads of fragment and fiber-shaped microplastics from fields amended with sewage sludge or mulch films.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 76 citations
Article Tier 2

Spatial and temporal distribution of microplastics in water and sediments of a freshwater system (Antuã River, Portugal)

This study tracked the spatial and temporal distribution of microplastics in water and sediments of a freshwater lake, finding seasonal variation in microplastic concentrations and identifying local land use and runoff as key drivers of contamination patterns.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 800 citations
Article Tier 2

Macro and microplastics in the soil: abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions under different land uses in an agricultural sub-basin

Researchers examined the abundance, characterization, identification, and interactions of macro- and microplastics in soils under different land uses within an agricultural sub-basin, assessing how land-use patterns influence plastic pollution distribution and potential interactions with the soil environment.

2025 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

Spatio and temporal dynamics of microplastic fluxes within the watercourses of a peri-urban watershed

Researchers tracked the spatiotemporal dynamics of microplastic fluxes within a river catchment over time, linking plastic transport patterns to land use activities. The study found that land use type is a key driver of when and how much microplastic enters and moves through watercourses.

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

The urban microplastic footprint: investigating the distribution and transport

Researchers investigated the distribution and transport of microplastics within an urban environment, mapping the 'urban microplastic footprint' to understand how city infrastructure and land use patterns drive the spatial distribution and downstream export of plastic particles to receiving water bodies.

2025
Article Tier 2

Emerging contaminants, including microplastics, in surface waters : uses of watersheds and impacts on the environment

This thesis investigated emerging contaminants including microplastics in surface waters across different land use types in Brazil, examining how watershed activities influence contamination levels in rivers and streams.

2023 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

Multidisciplinary analysis of microplastic dynamics: from sources to environmental fate in urban rivers during floods

Researchers conducted a multidisciplinary investigation of microplastic dynamics in urban rivers, combining flume experiments on riparian vegetation, polymer-specific quantification using PLE-Py-GC/MS, and a catchment-scale connectivity model to map land-to-river microplastic transport within the Arno basin.

2025 Florence Research (University of Florence)
Article Tier 2

Detecting and Quantifying Microplastics in Drinking Reservoirs

This study reviewed and evaluated methods for detecting and quantifying microplastics in drinking water reservoirs, highlighting the urgent need for standardized analytical approaches to accurately assess human exposure to microplastic contamination.

2023
Review Tier 2

Surface Water Pollution Source Identification and Quantification: Literature Review

This literature review covers methods for identifying and quantifying pollution sources in surface water, including heavy metals, microplastics, nutrients, and pathogens. Microplastics are mentioned as one of many contaminants, but this is not a primary microplastics research paper.

2023 American Journal of Water Science and Engineering
Article Tier 2

Relative contributions of different local sources to riverborne microplastic in a mixed landuse area within a tropical catchment

Researchers quantified the relative contributions of different land-use sources to riverborne microplastics in a tropical catchment, providing data to help prioritize pollution reduction measures for protecting human and ecological health.

2022 Environmental Research 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards control strategies for microplastics in urban water

This paper applies substance flow analysis to map where microplastics enter, travel through, and accumulate in urban water systems to identify key control points. A systematic whole-system approach is needed because targeting individual sources in isolation has limited effect on overall pollution levels.

2020 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28 citations
Article Tier 2

A Probabilistic Approach to Mapping the Contribution of Individual Riverine Discharges into Liverpool Bay Using Distance Accumulation Cost Methods on Satellite Derived Ocean-Colour Data

This paper develops a probabilistic method using satellite ocean-colour data to map dissolved inorganic nitrogen contributions from rivers into Liverpool Bay. It is not about microplastics and is not relevant to microplastic research.

2023 Remote Sensing 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Estimating microplastic flows across rural-urban gradients in a French catchment

Researchers estimated microplastic flows across rural-urban gradients in a French catchment, examining how land use and urbanization influence the transport and distribution of microplastic particles through the watershed system.

2025 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics accumulated in sediments of stormwater detention basins, in relation to the land use patterns in the contributing catchment.

Microplastics in stormwater detention basin sediments were characterized and linked to surrounding land use, with roads and residential areas contributing the highest concentrations and most diverse plastic types.

2023
Review Tier 2

Impacts of land use/land cover on water quality: a contemporary review for researchers and policymakers

This review examines how different land uses, from farming to urban development, affect water quality through diffuse pollution. Natural vegetation acts as a protective buffer against contamination, but more research is needed to determine how much vegetation is required to effectively filter pollutants. The findings are relevant to microplastic pollution because urban runoff and agricultural land use are major pathways by which microplastics enter drinking water sources.

2024 Water Quality Research Journal 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing hydrological monitoring using image-based techniques: challenges and opportunities

This paper is not about microplastics — it reviews image-based techniques (including remote sensing and computer vision) for hydrological monitoring of water bodies, discussing challenges and opportunities in measuring water flow, flood events, and water quality.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

From land to sea: Hydrological source tracking of microplastics in coastal sediments

Using hydrological source tracking in Danish streams, researchers traced the inland origins of coastal sediment microplastics, finding that stream networks act as primary transport corridors and that microplastic polymer composition reflects specific upstream land uses.

2025 Environmental Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Research on the non-point source pollution of microplastics

This study characterized microplastics as a non-point source pollutant in surface water bodies, analyzing the sources, transport pathways, and influence factors of microplastic pollution from agricultural runoff, urban stormwater, and atmospheric deposition.

2022 Frontiers in Chemistry 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Modelling land use influence on polymer-specific microplastics abundance and transportation from terrestrial to aquatic environments

Researchers developed a model to understand how land use patterns influence the abundance and transport of specific microplastic polymers from land into waterways. The study found that different land uses contribute distinct polymer types to the environment, providing evidence that targeted land management strategies could help reduce microplastic pollution in aquatic systems.

2026 Environmental Pollution
Systematic Review Tier 1

Forrageando no Antropoceno: explorando as dinâmicas de reservatórios e poluição plástica em organismos de água doce.

This systematic review examines how reservoir construction and plastic pollution affect freshwater organisms. It highlights that microplastic contamination in freshwater ecosystems threatens the organisms that make up food chains, with potential consequences for the safety of drinking water and freshwater food sources.

2024 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)