Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Environmental fate, aging, toxicity and potential remediation strategies of microplastics in soil environment: Current progress and future perspectives

This review summarizes what we know about microplastics in soil, including where they come from, how they age and break down, and their toxic effects. As microplastics degrade in the environment, they can release harmful chemicals and help transport other pollutants like heavy metals through the food chain to humans. The paper also explores cleanup strategies, though effective large-scale solutions remain a challenge.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 60 citations
Article Tier 2

[Transformation Behavior and Environmental Effects of Microplastics in Soil-groundwater].

This review synthesizes current knowledge on the transformation behavior and environmental effects of microplastics in soil-groundwater systems, covering their sources, transport pathways, physicochemical transformations, and ecological impacts in this understudied environmental compartment that has emerged as a significant sink for microplastic pollution.

2024 PubMed
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: Sources, Fate, and Interactions with Other Contaminants

This review examines how microplastics enter farmland through irrigation, fertilizers, and plastic mulch, and how long-term farming practices affect their spread and aging in soil. The paper highlights that microplastics can either increase or decrease the toxicity of co-existing pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals depending on how strongly each contaminant binds to soil versus plastic particles.

2025 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions between microplastics and contaminants: A review focusing on the effect of aging process

This review explains how aging and weathering change microplastics in ways that make them interact differently with environmental pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides. Aged microplastics tend to absorb more contaminants than fresh ones, and they can also release those pollutants under certain conditions. This is important for human health because the microplastics we encounter in food and water are typically weathered, meaning they may carry higher loads of toxic substances than laboratory studies suggest.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding Microplastic Pollution in Groundwater: Pathways, Health Implications and Solutions

This review examines how microplastics infiltrate groundwater systems through pathways including landfills, agricultural runoff, water treatment facilities, and aging plastic pipes. Researchers found that once in groundwater, microplastics can persist for long periods and degrade water quality while interacting with other subsurface contaminants. The study highlights that groundwater microplastic contamination is an underappreciated threat to one of humanity's most important freshwater sources.

2025 Water Environment Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Groundwater in the age of plastic

This review examines microplastic contamination of groundwater globally, synthesizing studies on occurrence, transport pathways through soil and aquifer matrices, and the emerging implications for drinking water safety and groundwater ecosystem health.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics transport in soils: A critical review

Researchers reviewed how microplastics move through soil, finding that their transport depends on a complex mix of particle properties, soil chemistry, water flow, and biological activity — and that these factors often interact in ways that produce contradictory results across studies. The review maps these knowledge gaps and calls for more controlled experiments to predict where microplastics accumulate and how they might reach groundwater or crops.

2025 Earth-Science Reviews 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Aging Significantly Affects Mobility and Contaminant-Mobilizing Ability of Nanoplastics in Saturated Loamy Sand

Researchers studied how aging from UV light and ozone exposure affects the mobility of nanoplastics in soil and found that aged particles traveled much farther through the soil column than pristine ones. The aged nanoplastics also carried more chemical contaminants with them as they moved. The findings suggest that weathered nanoplastics in the environment may pose greater risks for groundwater contamination than previously assumed.

2019 Environmental Science & Technology 424 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of microplastics and main pollutants and environmental behavior in soils

This review examined how microplastics interact with major soil pollutants including heavy metals, pesticides, and organic contaminants, analyzing their combined environmental behavior, transport mechanisms, and ecological hazards in agricultural and terrestrial soils.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 103 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of microplastics with heavy metals in soil: Mechanisms, influencing factors and biological effects

This review summarizes how microplastics and heavy metals interact in soil, where microplastics can absorb and carry toxic metals through the food chain and into the human body. Aging and weathering of microplastics changes their surface properties, making them better at picking up heavy metals, which raises concerns about combined exposure through contaminated crops and water.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 96 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport and transformation of microplastics and nanoplastics in the soil environment: A critical review

This critical review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics move through and transform within soil environments. Researchers discuss aggregation, sorption of contaminants, interactions with soil organisms, and degradation pathways that affect the fate of plastic particles in terrestrial systems. The study identifies major knowledge gaps in understanding subsurface plastic transport and calls for standardized methods to better assess the ecological and health risks of soil plastic pollution.

2021 Soil Use and Management 88 citations
Article Tier 2

The Urgent Need to Investigate Microplastic Contamination in Groundwater: Soil and Groundwater Interactions as Key Drivers

This viewpoint paper argued for urgent investigation of microplastic contamination in groundwater, highlighting soil-groundwater interactions as key drivers of subsurface MP transport and emphasizing the gap in current monitoring efforts.

2023 ACS ES&T Water 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Control strategies for microplastic pollution in groundwater

This review summarizes how microplastics migrate from soil into groundwater and the strategies available to control this contamination. Researchers found that microplastic concentrations in groundwater vary by region, with factors like soil type and land use influencing how particles travel underground. The study highlights the urgency of developing effective control measures since groundwater is a primary drinking water source for much of the world's population.

2023 Environmental Pollution 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Mobilization, Speciation, and Transformation of Organic and Inorganic Contaminants in Soil–Groundwater Ecosystems

Not relevant to microplastics — this review covers the mobilization, speciation, and transformation of organic and inorganic contaminants (such as heavy metals and pesticides) in soil and groundwater ecosystems.

2023 Applied Sciences 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption Behavior and Interaction of Micro-Nanoplastics in Soils and Aquatic Environment

This review examined how micro- and nanoplastics adsorb environmental pollutants in soil and aquatic environments, acting as vectors that transfer and enhance the bioavailability of contaminants. Aging and weathering processes that alter plastic surface properties were identified as key factors influencing adsorption capacity and pollutant interactions.

2024 7 citations
Review Tier 2

Research advances on microplastics contamination in terrestrial geoenvironment: A review

This review summarizes a decade of research on microplastic contamination in terrestrial environments, including soils, landfills, and groundwater. Microplastics alter soil properties like density, porosity, and water retention, and their chemical additives can cause secondary contamination as they leach out. The review highlights that microplastics in soil can enter groundwater and be carried by wind, creating pathways for these pollutants to reach humans through food crops and drinking water.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and environmental pollutants: Key interaction and toxicology in aquatic and soil environments

This review tracks how microplastics move through soil, water, and air ecosystems, acting as carriers for other pollutants like pesticides and heavy metals. When microplastics absorb these toxins, the combined effect on organisms can be worse than either pollutant alone. The paper highlights the need for better understanding of how these pollutant combinations affect ecosystems and ultimately human health through contaminated food and water.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 520 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics in soil: Occurrence, analytical methods, combined contamination and risks

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution in soil ecosystems, covering sources, detection methods, and ecological impacts. Researchers found that soils are major reservoirs for microplastics, and the study highlights how combined contamination with other pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides may amplify risks to soil organisms and food safety.

2022 Environmental Pollution 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in groundwater: Environmental fate and possible interactions with coexisting contaminants

This review looked at how microplastics end up in groundwater and what happens when they interact with other pollutants already present. Researchers found that microplastic contamination in groundwater varies widely around the world, with levels ranging from zero to nearly 7,000 particles per liter. The study highlights that microplastics can act as carriers for other harmful substances, potentially increasing their ability to spread through groundwater and pose risks to ecosystems and human health.

2025 Environmental Pollution 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics/nanoplastics in porous media: Key factors controlling their transport and retention behaviors

This review examines what controls how microplastics and nanoplastics move through soil and other porous materials like sand and sediment. Factors like particle size, shape, surface charge, water flow speed, and the presence of other pollutants all influence whether plastics stay in place or travel deeper into groundwater. Understanding these transport behaviors is important for assessing the risk of microplastics contaminating underground drinking water sources.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 43 citations