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A temporal sediment record of microplastics in an urban lake, London, UK
- Source :
- Journal of Paleolimnology. 61:449-462
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2019.
-
Abstract
- A radionuclide-dated (210Pb and 137Cs) sediment core collected from Hampstead Pond No. 1, a North London lake, was used to provide novel data on the historical accumulation of microplastic waste in the urban environment. Microplastics were extracted from sediments by sieving and dense-liquid separation. Fibres of anthropogenic origin dominated the assemblage. Microplastics were first identified by microscopy before Raman spectroscopy of selected particles was used to determine the composition of synthetic polymers and dyes. Polystyrene microplastic particles were identified, in addition to synthetic fibres of polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl chloride and fibres containing synthetic dyes. Concentrations of total microplastics in the sediment samples ranged from detection level to 539 particles per kilogram of dried sediment. Proliferation of microplastics is evident in the core from the late 1950s to the present. Relatively low numbers of particles were found in older sediments, comparable to laboratory blanks, highlighting the difficulty of extending a plastic chronostratigraphy back to the early twentieth century. This study shows that, with optimisation, routine extraction of microplastics from radionuclide-dated lake sediments can add an important temporal perspective to our understanding of microplastics in aquatic systems.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
010506 paleontology
Microplastics
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Aquatic ecosystem
Sediment
Aquatic Science
01 natural sciences
Ecology and Environment
Chemistry
Environmental chemistry
Earth Sciences
Environmental science
Sedimentology
Chronostratigraphy
Sediment core
Urban environment
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Earth-Surface Processes
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15730417 and 09212728
- Volume :
- 61
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Paleolimnology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2ab322a400d16cbddeedfe4b7063d844