Microplastics in surface waters of the Gulf of Gabes, southern Mediterranean Sea: Distribution, composition and influence of hydrodynamics

Zayen, Amal; Sayadi, Sami; Chevalier, Cristèle; Boukthir, Moncef; Ismail, Sana Ben; Tedetti, Marc

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2020.106832

Cited by 48 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This is a quite shallow area, where sinking MPs may accumulate on the seafloor (Tsiaras et al, 2021). In addition, this may be attributed to a strong phytoplankton biomass induced by high nutrient concentrations through terrestrial (atmospheric) or sediments inputs characteristic of this area, where the presence of biofouled MP items were frequently found in samples from Gabes Gulf (Zayen et al, 2020). We should note that when no biofouling is adopted, smaller size MPs remain floating at surface and therefore may travel longer distances with currents.…”

Section: Mediterranean Basin-scale Simulationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Thus, Gabes Gulf may receive particles from the more polluted Algerian coast (Figure 1), following the pathway of the Algerian current and Atlantic-Ionian stream (see Supplementary Figure 5). In Zayen et al (2020), the hydrodynamics models highlighted that the surface water sampled in the same area came mainly from outside of the Gabes Gulf (Atlantic Tunisian Current) and advancing by coastal current (Tunisian Coastal Current).…”

Section: Mediterranean Basin-scale Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, the local sewage facility of Cortiou has been already highlighted as a possible source of microplastics in the Bay of Marseille due to the treated wastewater reaching the sea in the southeastern part of the city (Schmidt et al, 2018). Gabes is also a known source of untreated industrial and domestic wastewaters that are continuously discharged in the open sea from the industrial complex of Ghannouch-Gabes and the local municipal WWTP, respectively (El Zrelli et al, 2018;Zayen et al, 2020).…”

Section: Fine-resolution Model Simulations and Comparison With In Sit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics in the Mediterranean: Variability From Observations and Model Analysis

et al. 2022

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In this study, the abundance and properties (size, shape, and polymer type) of microplastics (MPs) in sea surface water samples, collected during two sampling campaigns over 2018–2019, in four coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Saronikos Gulf, LIgurian Sea, Gulf of Lion, and Gabes Gulf) were investigated. Coupled hydrodynamic/particle drift model simulations with basin-scale Mediterranean and high resolution nested models were used to provide a better understanding on the variability of the abundance/size of MPs, originating from wastewater and river runoff, in the four areas. Different size classes of MPs were considered in the model, taking into account biofouling induced sinking, as a possible mechanism of MPs removal from the surface. The Gabes Gulf showed the highest mean MPs abundance (0.073–0.310 items/m2), followed by Ligurian Sea (0.061–0.134 items/m2), Saronikos Gulf (0.047–0.080 items/m2), and Gulf of Lion (0.029–0.032 items/m2). Overall, the observed MPs abundance and size distribution was reasonably well reproduced by the model in the four different areas, except an overestimation of small size contribution in Saronikos Gulf. The basin-scale simulation revealed a strong decrease of smaller size MPs in offshore areas, due to biofouling induced sinking, with larger (floating) MPs being able to travel longer distances in the open sea. A significant impact of waves drift and advection of MPs from non-local sources was identified from model simulations, particularly in the Gulfs of Lion and Gabes, having a stronger effect on larger microplastics. In Gabes Gulf, most MPs originated from offshore areas, being mainly (floating) larger size classes, as suggested by the observed quite small contribution of <1 mm particles. The MPs observed abundance distribution in each area could be partly explained by the adopted sources distribution. The modeling tools proposed in this study provide useful insight to gain a better understanding on MPs dynamics in the marine environment and assess the current status of plastic pollution on basin and regional scale to further develop environmental management action for the mitigation of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Section: Mediterranean Basin-scale Simulationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Mediterranean Basin-scale Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fine-resolution Model Simulations and Comparison With In Sit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics in the Mediterranean: Variability From Observations and Model Analysis

et al. 2022

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“…After the attention of microplastics, their sources [ 5 ], the harm to the environment [ 6 ], the detection methods [ 7 ], the regularities of distribution [ 8 ], the influence factors [ 9 ] and other characteristics have been widely studied. However, these studies have mainly focused on local regions (like some sections/reaches of rivers), lakes, reservoirs, estuaries or sea areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Migration and Transformation of Microplastics in Inland Water Systems

Cai

Zhao

2021

IJERPH

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Plastic productions continue to grow, and improper management of plastic wastes has raised increasing concerns. This reflects the need to explore the microplastics in water bodies. Microplastics have been regarded as emerging pollutants in water systems. In recent years, large numbers of studies across the world were conducted to investigate the distribution, behavior and the integrated impacts of microplastics in both the marine environment and the freshwater environment. Compared with the marine environment, the migration and transformation of microplastics in inland water systems seem more informative as they may reach the marine environment as one of their final destinations. Based on the updated literature, this review aims at overviewing the migration and transformation processes/behavior of microplastics in rivers, lakes and reservoirs. As for the migration, the microplastics’ fate is from manufacturing, consuming, discarding to migrating and returning to the human society which could form a closed though complicated circle. For transformation, microplastics experience five stages of their fate in inland water systems. These include changing into suspending pieces; ending up deposited as the sediment; resuspending under various changing conditions; ending up via burying into the soil as the part of the riverbed; reaching the marine environment; and being ingested by organisms and also becoming entangled with aquatic plants, etc. It is highly expected that this review can provide a valuable reference for better understanding microplastics’ migration and transformation mechanisms and a guide for the future study of microplastics in an inland water environment.

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“…In addition to direct ingestion and physical damage, microplastic may increase the bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals along the food chain (Zettler et al, 2013;Bakir et al, 2014;Brennecke et al, 2016;Fu et al, 2020). Rivers connect most land surfaces, and estuarine areas are the most significant socio-economic development belts around the world (Zayen et al, 2020). As for marine plastics, they are mainly from the land-based sources, thus estuarine-coastal environments act as important converters (Schmidt et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mid-Level Riverine Outflow Matters: A Case of Microplastic Transport in the Jiulong River, China

Liu

et al. 2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Riverine outflow is one of the major pathways for microplastic transportation to coastal environments. Research on the output of microplastics in small- or medium-sized rivers will help accurately understand the status of their marine loads. In this study, we used both trawling and pumping methods to collect microplastics of different sizes in the Jiulong River Estuary and Xiamen Bay. We found that the abundance of small microplastics (44 μm–5.0 mm) was at least 20 times higher than the large particles (0.33–5.0 mm). The abundance of the large particles ranges from 4.96 to 16.3 particles/m3, and that of the small particles ranged from 82.8 to 918 particles/m3. Granule was the dominant shape (>60%), and polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were the most common components. The riverine flux of small microplastics (44 μm–5 mm, 472 ± 230 t/y) was at a medium level and was eight times greater than that of large particles (0.33–5.0 mm, 61.2 ± 2.6 t/y). The behavior of the large microplastics was relatively conservative, whose abundance had a significant correlation with salinity (R2 = 0.927) and was mainly influenced by physical factors. In contrast, results of statistical analysis revealed that more complicated factors influenced the small microplastics.

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Microplastics in surface waters of the Gulf of Gabes, southern Mediterranean Sea: Distribution, composition and influence of hydrodynamics

Cited by 48 publications

References 57 publications

Microplastics in the Mediterranean: Variability From Observations and Model Analysis

Microplastics in the Mediterranean: Variability From Observations and Model Analysis

A Review of the Migration and Transformation of Microplastics in Inland Water Systems

Mid-Level Riverine Outflow Matters: A Case of Microplastic Transport in the Jiulong River, China

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