Occurrence, stability and source identification of small size microplastics in the Jiayan reservoir, China

Niu, Jinqiong; Gao, Bo; Wu, Wenqiang; Peng, Wenqi; Xu, Dongyu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150832

Cited by 26 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The dominance of PE is partly because it is one of the most produced and discarded plastics globally. Our findings are consistent with previous observations, in which PE dominated the polymer compositions in sediment 55,56 , Arctic ice cores 2 , and the Atlantic Ocean interior 1 . Interestingly, PE is of lower density than other polymers as well as freshwater, but it could finally end up in reservoir sediments.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Interestingly, PE is of lower density than other polymers as well as freshwater, but it could finally end up in reservoir sediments. One explanation is that PE is mainly comprised of small-sized particles 56 , and its density can be more readily altered by biofouling 5,[40][41][42] , incorporation into microalgae aggregates 45 , and encapsulation within faecal pellets 46 . Moreover, the dam slows down the flow of water and facilitates the deposition of microplastics into the reservoir bed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By mining and ranking the comparable datasets of microplastic contamination in worldwide freshwater sediments, we found that microplastic abundance in the TGR (23,018 ± 14,268 items kg −1 ) in 2020 was profoundly higher than that in most studies (0.5−3315 items kg −1 ) (Fig. 4 and Supplementary Table 3), including the riverine and marine sediments, as well as the reservoir sediments 56,65,66 . This was attributed, in part, to the negligence of small-sized microplastics in most of the previous observations.…”

Section: Estimated Load Of Microplastics In Reservoir Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 86%

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Substantial burial of terrestrial microplastics in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Gao

Chen

et al. 2023

Commun Earth Environ

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Hydropower dams impact the transport of microplastics from rivers to the ocean. The Yangtze River is a large source of plastics to the ocean. Here, we report microplastic concentrations and compositions across a range of size fractions for sediment samples collected in the upper and lower reaches of the Three Gorges Dam in 2008, 2015, 2019 and 2020. We find a gradual increase in microplastic abundance over time, with preferential retention of small-sized (<300 μm) microplastics in the dam reservoir sediments. Small microplastics accounted for between approximately 44 and 90% of identified microplastics, and 82% of all polyethylene particles, which were the dominant polymer type. Our estimate of the total plastic mass load in reservoir sediments suggests that the Three Gorges Dam retains as much as 8048 ± 7494 tons yr‒1 microplastics in sediments, which is equivalent to 47 ± 44% of the Yangtze River microplastic flux to the ocean.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estimated Load Of Microplastics In Reservoir Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 86%

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Substantial burial of terrestrial microplastics in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Gao

Chen

et al. 2023

Commun Earth Environ

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“…Microplastics were isolated using a density separation technique according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration protocol with minor modifications ( Masura et al., 2015 ; Niu et al., 2022 ). Approximately 250 mL of ZnCl 2 (1.6 g cm −3 ) solution was added to 20 g soil for microplastics separation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catchment-wide flooding significantly altered microplastics organization in the hydro-fluctuation belt of the reservoir

Chen

Gao

et al. 2022

iScience

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“…As an important unit of freshwater systems, artificial barriers intercept 65% of plastic waste before it reaches the oceans and serve as key vectors for MP transport or long-term sinks for MPs. , It has been found that lakes and reservoirs are potential long-term MP accumulators, − which poses a serious challenge to the water quality and safety of reservoir ecosystems. , Most studies focused on the plastic pollution have been confined to the surface water or sediments of reservoirs. − A previous study shows that a large amount of plastic debris was hidden inside the ocean; however, the behavior of plastic debris hidden inside reservoirs is largely unknown. Moreover, thermal stratification (TS) is an important hydrological process in deep reservoirs that can affect the transport of matter and energy in the water column .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical Differentiation of Microplastics Influenced by Thermal Stratification in a Deep Reservoir

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging environmental concern. However, vertical transport of MPs remains unclear, particularly in deep reservoirs with thermal stratification (TS). In this study, the vertical variation in MP organization, stability, migration, and the driving factors of the profile in a deep reservoir were comprehensively explored. This is the first observation that TS interfaces in a deep reservoir act as a buffer area to retard MP subsidence, especially at the interface between the epilimnion and the metalimnion. Interestingly, there was a size-selection phenomenon for MP sinking. In particular, the high accumulation of largesized MPs (LMPs; >300 μm) indicated that LMPs were more susceptible to dramatic changes in water density at the TS interfaces. Furthermore, simultaneous analysis of water parameters and MP surface characteristics showed that the drivers of MP deposition were biological to abiotic transitions during different layers, which were influenced by algae and metals. Specifically, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and microscopic Fourier transform infrared analyses implied that the occurrence of metals on the MP surface can promote MP deposition in the hypolimnion. Our findings demonstrated that TS significantly influenced the MP fate in deep reservoirs, and the hotspot of MP exposure risk for vulnerable benthic organisms on the reservoir floor deserves more attention.

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Occurrence, stability and source identification of small size microplastics in the Jiayan reservoir, China

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Substantial burial of terrestrial microplastics in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Substantial burial of terrestrial microplastics in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Catchment-wide flooding significantly altered microplastics organization in the hydro-fluctuation belt of the reservoir

Vertical Differentiation of Microplastics Influenced by Thermal Stratification in a Deep Reservoir

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