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Microplastics in Sediment Cores from Asia and Africa as Indicators of Temporal Trends in Plastic Pollution

  • Special Issue: Indicators of Ocean Pollution
  • Published:
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Abstract

Microplastics (<5 mm) were extracted from sediment cores collected in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Africa by density separation after hydrogen peroxide treatment to remove biofilms were and identified using FTIR. Carbonyl and vinyl indices were used to avoid counting biopolymers as plastics. Microplastics composed of variety of polymers, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethyleneterphthalates (PET), polyethylene-polypropylene copolymer (PEP), and polyacrylates (PAK), were identified in the sediment. We measured microplastics between 315 µm and 5 mm, most of which were in the range 315 µm–1 mm. The abundance of microplastics in surface sediment varied from 100 pieces/kg-dry sediment in a core collected in the Gulf of Thailand to 1900 pieces/kg-dry sediment in a core collected in a canal in Tokyo Bay. A far higher stock of PE and PP composed microplastics in sediment compared with surface water samples collected in a canal in Tokyo Bay suggests that sediment is an important sink for microplastics. In dated sediment cores from Japan, microplastic pollution started in 1950s, and their abundance increased markedly toward the surface layer (i.e., 2000s). In all sediment cores from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Africa, the abundance of microplastics increased toward the surface, suggesting the global occurrence of and an increase in microplastic pollution over time.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Masao Takayanagi is thanked for valuable discussions on the IR spectrum of polymers. The authors appreciate Dr. Kosuke Tanaka for providing photos of microplastics. Several students and staff from our laboratories provided assistance in the field. This study was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid (Project Nos. 26550038, 22254001) and the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (Project No. 4-1502).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Yukari Matsuguma, Hideshige Takada, Hirohide Kanke, Shigeaki Sakurai, Tokuma Suzuki, Maki Itoh & Yohei Okazaki

  2. School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Hidetoshi Kumata

  3. Environmental Research and Training Center, Bangkok, Thailand

    Ruchaya Boonyatumanond

  4. Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Mohamad Pauzi Zakaria

  5. Coastal Systems Research Group, Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Durban, South Africa

    Steven Weerts & Brent Newman

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  1. Yukari Matsuguma
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  2. Hideshige Takada
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  3. Hidetoshi Kumata
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Correspondence to Hideshige Takada.

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Matsuguma, Y., Takada, H., Kumata, H. et al. Microplastics in Sediment Cores from Asia and Africa as Indicators of Temporal Trends in Plastic Pollution. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 73, 230–239 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-017-0414-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-017-0414-9

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