River Deltas as hotspots of microplastic accumulation : the case study of the Ebro River (NW Mediterranean)
Simon-Sánchez, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Grelaud, Michael (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
García Orellana, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)
Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	Microplastics (MPs) are considered pollutants that are ubiquitously distributed in aquatic environments. One of the key hotspot areas to understand fluxes of MPs entering into the oceans are transitional systems, between fresh and marine waters, where river estuaries in particular play an important role. In this study we analyzed MPs occurrence in the Ebro River Delta, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula, one of the largest wetland areas in the NW Mediterranean Basin. Microplastic profile, abundance, distribution, and characteristics were screened across different environmental matrices. MPs were collected in sandy beaches on the northern edge of the delta, in estuarine benthic sediments, and in surface waters of the Ebro River, with a mean abundance of 422 ± 119 MPs·kg-1 DW, 2052 ± 746 MPs·kg-1 DW and 3. 5 ± 1. 4 MPs·m-3, respectively. Fibers were found to be the largest class (70 ± 22%) of the three different environmental matrices investigated. We estimated that the Ebro surface water represents an input of 2. 14 × 109 MPs·yr-1 to the Mediterranean Sea. The main contribution of this study is a new insight on the distribution of MPs across different environmental matrices in river estuaries, where estuarine benthic sediments were identified as a potential important sink for MPs.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1588
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Microplastics ; Estuarine sediments ; Surface waters ; Beach
Published in:	Science of the total environment, Vol. 687 (Oct. 2019) , p. 1186-1196, ISSN 1879-1026

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.168
PMID: 31412454

Postprint 43 p, 3.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles