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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Effect of low-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and high-density polyethylene micro-plastic contamination on the index and engineering properties of clayey soil- an experimental study
ClearImpact of microplastics on strength parameters of clayey, Sandy, silty soil: A comparative assessment
Researchers conducted a comparative study examining how three types of microplastics at different concentrations affect the strength properties of sandy, silty, and clayey soils over a 30-day period. They found that LDPE, HDPE, and PVC contamination at environmentally relevant levels altered key soil properties including moisture content, density, and shear strength. The study highlights that microplastic pollution could compromise soil structural integrity, with implications for construction and geotechnical engineering.
Impact of microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystem on index and engineering properties of sandy soil: An experimental investigation
Researchers tested how different concentrations of three common plastic types affect the physical and engineering properties of sandy soil. They found that increasing microplastic contamination significantly altered soil characteristics including liquid limit, plasticity, compaction, and shear strength. The findings suggest that microplastic pollution in the ground could potentially compromise the structural stability of soil used in construction and land management.
Microplastic Contamination in Soils: A Review from Geotechnical Engineering View
Researchers reviewed microplastic contamination in soils from a geotechnical engineering perspective, examining how plastic degradation leads to widespread soil contamination. They identified landfills and various geotechnical applications such as tire chip fills and polystyrene lightweight fills as potential sources of microplastic pollution in soils. The review highlights the need for geotechnical engineers to consider the long-term effects of microplastic contamination on soil properties and groundwater quality.
Microplastics in soils: an environmental geotechnics perspective
This geotechnical engineering perspective reviewed microplastic contamination in soils and the terrestrial subsurface, examining how MPs alter soil mechanical properties — including shear strength, hydraulic conductivity, and compressibility — and arguing that geotechnical impacts have been underappreciated in environmental assessments.
Geotechnical Implications of Microplastics: A Review of Their Effects on Soil Mechanical Parameters
This review compiled and analyzed findings from previous studies on how microplastics affect soil mechanical parameters — including compressibility, permeability, shear strength, settlement, and slope stability — concluding that microplastic contamination can substantially alter geotechnical soil behavior with implications for engineering and construction.
Geotechnical Implications of Microplastics: A Review of Their Effects on Soil Mechanical Parameters
This review compiled and analyzed findings from previous studies on how microplastics affect soil mechanical parameters — including compressibility, permeability, shear strength, settlement, and slope stability — concluding that microplastic contamination can substantially alter geotechnical soil behavior with implications for engineering and construction.
Impact of Different Microplastics on Soil Evaporation Rates: A Comparative Analysis Across Chernozem, Umbrisol, and Luvisol
Researchers assessed the effects of high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene microplastics at 5% w/w concentration on evaporation rates, dry bulk density, and saturated water content across three soil types (Chernozem, Umbrisol, and Luvisol), finding that all three polymer types significantly altered soil physical properties in ways that varied by both polymer type and soil classification.
Effects of microplastics on the hydraulic properties and pore characteristics of compacted soil
Researchers investigated how polyethylene microplastics affect the hydraulic properties and pore structure of compacted soil, finding that higher microplastic concentrations disrupted pore size distribution and reduced saturated hydraulic conductivity while altering water retention capacity.
Effects of microplastic contamination on the hydraulic, water retention, and desiccation crack properties of a natural clay exposed to leachate
Researchers examined how microplastic contamination affects the physical properties of natural clay soil exposed to landfill leachate. They found that microplastics significantly increased the soil's water permeability, reduced its water retention capacity, and altered desiccation cracking patterns. The findings suggest that microplastic pollution could compromise the integrity of clay barriers used in landfill liners and other engineering applications.
Distribution characteristics of soil microplastics and their impact on soil physicochemical properties in agricultural areas of the North China plain
Microplastics are accumulating across agricultural soils of the North China Plain, with this study finding moderate-to-low abundance across multiple land use types and detecting that plastic particles affect soil texture, bulk density, and water-holding capacity. Altered soil physical properties from microplastic contamination could impair crop growth and soil fertility over time, with implications for food security.
Geopolymer-based techniques for stabilization of microplastic contaminated expansive soil
This review investigates how microplastic contamination in clay-rich (expansive) soils alters their structural stability, and how geopolymer-based treatments can help. Microplastics disrupt the shrink-swell behavior of these soils, potentially destabilizing foundations and infrastructure built on them. The findings matter because agricultural and construction soils increasingly contain microplastics, and this work points toward chemical stabilization strategies that could reduce the resulting engineering hazards.
Impacts of Microplastics on the Soil Biophysical Environment
Four common microplastic types (polyacrylic fibers, polyamide beads, polyester fibers, PE fragments) were added to loamy sand soil at environmentally relevant concentrations in a garden experiment and effects on soil-water relationships, structure, and microbial function were measured over 5 weeks. Results showed that microplastics altered water repellency, aggregate stability, and microbial activity in a plastic-type-dependent manner, confirming that microplastics can disrupt fundamental soil biophysical processes.
Impact of Plastic Residues on Soil Properties and Crop Productivity: A Comprehensive Research Study
This agricultural field study assessed how plastic residues at varying contamination levels affect soil physical, chemical, and biological properties and crop productivity, finding that higher microplastic concentrations disrupted soil structure, reduced microbial activity, and lowered plant growth.
Determinants of environmental changes in human-modified ecosystems: Effects of plastics on moisture gradients, nutrients, and clay properties
Researchers examined how plastic pollution affects soil properties in human-modified ecosystems through field experiments in China and Rwanda, combined with laboratory tests on clay mixed with PET microplastics. They found that microplastics altered the structural properties of natural clay, decreasing moisture content while increasing density and load-bearing capacity. The study suggests that plastic accumulation in soils can fundamentally change moisture gradients, nutrient availability, and physical soil characteristics.
Water retention and hydraulic properties of a natural soil subjected to microplastic contaminations and leachate exposures
Researchers studied how microplastic contamination affects the water-holding and flow properties of compacted soil, a scenario relevant to engineering applications like landfill liners. They found that microplastics altered the soil's ability to retain water and changed both saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, with effects varying by particle size and leachate age. The study suggests that microplastic-contaminated soils may behave differently than expected in engineered structures.
Low-density polyethylene microplastics alter chemical properties and microbial communities in agricultural soil
Researchers found that adding low-density polyethylene microplastics to agricultural soil at concentrations of 1% and above significantly altered soil chemistry and bacterial community structure. The study suggests that microplastic contamination from plastic mulch and other agricultural inputs may shift microbial diversity in ways that could affect long-term soil health.
Characterization of Microplastics and Associated Heavy Metals in Urban Soils Affected by Anthropogenic Littering: Distribution, Spatial Variation, and Influence of Soil Properties
Researchers sampled soils across residential, commercial, and industrial land-use types in urban areas and found microplastics in every location, with polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyamide as the dominant polymer types, at concentrations up to 850,000 particles per kilogram. Heavy metals were also associated with the plastic particles, meaning microplastics in urban soil may serve as combined carriers of chemical toxicants. The findings highlight urban soil as a major but underappreciated reservoir of microplastic pollution.
Indirect Effects of Microplastic-Contaminated Soils on Adjacent Soil Layers: Vertical Changes in Soil Physical Structure and Water Flow
Laboratory experiments showed that microplastic contamination in upper soil layers indirectly altered the physical structure and water flow of adjacent uncontaminated lower soil layers, suggesting that microplastics can affect soil hydrology beyond their immediate zone of contamination.
Saturated hydraulic conductivity in microplastics incorporated soils: Effects of soil texture, polymer type, particle size, and concentration
Researchers measured saturated hydraulic conductivity in loam and sandy loam soils amended with PET, PVC, and PE microplastics of two size classes, finding that PET particles in sandy loam produced the highest conductivity values and that polymer hydrophobicity and particle size both influence soil water flow.
The distribution of pristine and aged low density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate microplastics in soil aggregate fractions
Researchers investigated how pristine and artificially weathered low-density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate microplastics redistribute across soil aggregate fractions during aggregation, adding particles at low concentration to silt loam and loam soils amended with organic matter over a two-month incubation period. They found that weathering significantly altered microplastic surface properties, which in turn affected how particles interacted with and distributed within soil aggregate fractions during soil formation.
Influence of Microplastic Contamination on Sand Liquefaction Initiation and Post-Liquefaction Behavior
Researchers assessed how microplastic contamination affects the dynamic properties of sand, specifically its susceptibility to liquefaction under cyclic loading. The study used cyclic simple shear tests and found that microplastic particles alter soil behavior under dynamic conditions, with implications for geotechnical engineering in contaminated environments.
Responses of microbial communities to the addition of different types of microplastics in agricultural soils
Researchers conducted a 90-day soil incubation study to examine how four types of microplastics — polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyethylene terephthalate — affect agricultural soil properties and microbial communities. They found that all four types significantly altered soil enzyme activities, nutrient content, and the diversity of microbial populations. The study indicates that microplastic contamination in farmland can disrupt soil health in ways that may affect agricultural productivity.
Microplastics alter soil structural stability as quantified by high-energy moisture characteristics
Scientists found that adding polypropylene and polyethylene microplastic fibers to soil changed its physical structure by altering pore spaces and weakening soil aggregates. Larger fiber sizes and higher concentrations caused more disruption to soil water retention and drainage. These changes to soil structure could affect crop growth and water management on farms where microplastic contamination from irrigation or mulch films has accumulated.
Polyethylene microplastic pollution changes the electrical resistance and thermal conductivity of loess soil
Adding polyethylene microplastics to loess soil altered its electrical resistance and thermal conductivity in a nonlinear way, with opposing effects of increased particle resistance and electrostatic charge reduction balancing at 6–8% PE content.