Elsevier

Chemosphere

Volume 171, March 2017, Pages 248-258
Chemosphere

Microplastics in the surface sediments from the Beijiang River littoral zone: Composition, abundance, surface textures and interaction with heavy metals

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.12.074Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Occurrence and characteristics of microplastics from Beijiang river sediment were investigated.

  • A combination of μ-FTIR and SEM illustrated the chemical degradation of microplastics.

  • The content of metals (Ni, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Ti) in microplastics is investigated by ICP-MS.

  • We suggested that the majority of heavy metals carried by microplastics were derived from inherent load.

Abstract

While large quantities of studies on microplastics in the marine environment have been widely carried out, few were available in the freshwater environment. The occurrence and characteristics, including composition, abundance, surface texture and interaction with heavy metals, of microplastics in the surface sediments from Beijiang River littoral zone were investigated. The concentrations of microplastics ranged from 178 ± 69 to 544 ± 107 items/kg sediment. SEM images illustrated that pits, fractures, flakes and adhering particles were the common patterns of degradation. Chemical weathering of microplastics was also observed and confirmed by μ-FTIR. EDS spectra displayed difference in the elemental types of metals on the different surface sites of individual microplastic, indicating that some metals carried by microplastics were not inherent but were derived from the environment. The content of metals (Ni, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Ti) in microplastics after ultrasonic cleaning has been analyzed by ICP-MS. Based on data from the long-term sorption of metals by microplastics and a comparison of metal burden between microplastics, macroplastics and fresh plastic products, we suggested that the majority of heavy metals carried by microplastics were derived from inherent load.

Introduction

Microplastics that are less than 5 mm in size (Arthur et al., 2009, Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012) have been almost ubiquitous in the global marine environment, including surface waters (Collignon et al., 2012, Frias et al., 2014), beaches (Browne et al., 2011, Claessens et al., 2011, Thompson et al., 2004) and deep sea (Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013, Woodall et al., 2014). More importantly, plastic debris would continuously degrade into microplastics or nanoplastics (Andrady, 2011, da Costa et al., 2016, Ivar do Sul and Costa, 2014, Wang et al., 2016) as a result of physical, chemical and microbial effects. The majority of marine plastics are considered to originate from land-based source (Allsopp et al., 2006, Andrady, 2011, Wagner et al., 2014), including transport from rivers that may be important pathways (Cheung et al., 2016, Morritt et al., 2014, Rech et al., 2014). Furthermore, one of the few studies focusing on the floating microplastics in the estuary found that the Tamar River could not be identified as a net source or sink, with as many microplastic particles entering the estuary as leaving it (Sadri and Thompson, 2014). Nevertheless, there are very few studies on microplastics in freshwater environment (see reviews by Dris et al., 2015, Duis and Coors, 2016, Eerkes-Medrano et al., 2015, Wagner et al., 2014). Some studies not only reported the occurrence of microplastics in freshwater environment (Eriksen et al., 2013, Faure et al., 2012, McCormick et al., 2014, Moore et al., 2011, Morritt et al., 2014), but show that contamination level is as severe as in the marine environment. And fishes in rivers (Sanchez et al., 2014) and birds in terrestrial environment (Zhao et al., 2016) have also been shown to ingest microplastics.

The great concerns about microplastics in the environment are the association with toxic chemicals and subsequent exposure of these chemicals to the multiple kinds of organisms that ingest the debris (Bakir et al., 2014, Bejgarn et al., 2015, Browne et al., 2008, Browne et al., 2013, Rochman et al., 2013b, Van Cauwenberghe and Janssen, 2014). Plastic debris is capable of concentrating hydrophobic organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and DDTs (Endo et al., 2005, Gauquie et al., 2015, Hirai et al., 2011, Rochman et al., 2013a, Van et al., 2012), increasing their concentration even up to the order of 106 (Mato et al., 2001). Plastic debris could also accumulate metals from the surrounding environment and the accumulation has been demonstrated by laboratory experiments (Holmes et al., 2012, Holmes et al., 2014, Turner and Holmes, 2015) and environmental monitoring (Rochman et al., 2014). Metal pollution is common in the environment and is derived from multiple sources such as the industrial and domestic sewage discharges, mining, smelting and e-wastes (Pan and Wang, 2012, Deheyn and Latz, 2006, Wang et al., 2013). However, data on the content of metals accumulation by microplastics in the actual environment is very limited. One of the few studies on the effects of metals interaction with microplastics found a significant decrease of the predatory performance (referred to Artemia franciscana nauplii used as preys) and a significant inhibition of AChE activity under simultaneous exposure to Cr(VI) and microplastics, while fewer inhibition caused by microplastics alone and no observed inhibition caused by Cr(VI) alone (Luís et al., 2015).

Accordingly, more research efforts should be contributed to investigate the occurrence and characteristics, especially the interaction with heavy metals, of microplastics in the freshwater environment so as to further assess the potential environmental risks. Additionally, shore surface sediment samples could reflect the result of long-term interfacial interaction between waters and land surface (Yu et al., 2016), and thus provide vital information on the transportation and fate of pollutants. And similar types of plastics in the water column as in sedimentary habitats have been previously shown (Thompson et al., 2004), suggesting that density was not a dominant factor influencing distribution of microplastics and sediment samples are good representations for long-term accumulating result of microplastics. In this study, thus, microplastics were retrieved in the surface sediment samples from the Beijiang River littoral zone, and the main objective is to provide data on their characteristics including composition, abundance, surface textures acting as an indicator of degradation and interaction with heavy metals.

Section snippets

Sampling sites

Sediment samples were collected from 8 sites chosen in the surface layer of Beijiang River littoral zone (shown in Fig. 1). In each site, three sediments were randomly sampled to a depth of 2 cm using a stainless-steel shovel and a 20 × 20 cm wooden frame with a 2-cm height, and then these sediments were transferred into an aluminum foil bag, in which they were mixed together as one single sample. Sample collection was conducted in March 2015. Beijiang River is one of the three main streams of

Abundance

Microplastics were found in triplicate sediment samples from all sites, indicating that the sediments are vulnerable to microplastics pollution and could be good representations for the long-term accumulation of microplastics. Microplastics might be washed ashore from the water surface (Lumpkin et al., 2012) and derived from fragmentation of larger plastics littered on shore sediments as a result of physical, chemical and microbial effects (Cooper and Corcoran, 2010, Zbyszewski and Corcoran,

Conclusion

In the present study, a preliminary assessment of microplastics pollution in the surface sediments from Beijiang River littoral zone was presented. However, concentrations of microplastics were underestimated, because saturated NaCl solution that was commonly used in previous studies could float up the materials with a density <1.2 g/cm3 but fail to float up some types of plastics, e.g. PVC. ZnCl2 (Liebezeit and Dubaish, 2012) and NaI (Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013, Nuelle et al., 2014)

Acknowledgement

This study was financially supported from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41676104) and program of Science and Technology development of Dongguan City (No. 201650710100435).

References (104)

  • M. Claessens et al.

    New techniques for the detection of microplastics in sediments and field collected organisms

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2013)
  • A. Cobelo-Garcia et al.

    Behaviour of palladium (II), platinum (IV), and rhodium (III) in artificial and natural waters: influence of reactor surface and geochemistry on metal recovery

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2007)
  • A. Collignon et al.

    Neustonic microplastic and zooplankton in the north western Mediterranean sea

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2012)
  • D.A. Cooper et al.

    Effects of mechanical and chemical processes on the degradation of plastic beach debris on the island of Kauai

    Hawaii. Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2010)
  • P.L. Corcoran et al.

    Plastics and beaches: a degrading relationship

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2009)
  • P.L. Corcoran et al.

    Hidden plastics of Lake Ontario, Canada and their potential preservation in the sediment record

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2015)
  • J.P. da Costa et al.

    (Nano) plastics in the environment–Sources, fates and effects

    Sci. Total. Environ.

    (2016)
  • D.D. Deheyn et al.

    Bioavailability of metals along a contamination gradient in san Diego Bay (California, USA)

    Chemosphere

    (2006)
  • R. Dris et al.

    Synthetic fibers in atmospheric fallout: a source of microplastics in the environment?

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2016)
  • D. Eerkes-Medrano et al.

    Microplastics in freshwater systems: a review of the emerging threats, identification of knowledge gaps and prioritisation of research needs

    Water. Res.

    (2015)
  • S. Endo et al.

    Concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in beached resin pellets: variability among individual particles and regional differences

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2005)
  • M. Eriksen et al.

    Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian great lakes

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2013)
  • A.C. Fischer et al.

    On the relevance of iron adsorption to container materials in small-volume experiments on iron marine chemistry: 55 Fe-aided assessment of capacity, affinity and kinetics

    Mar. Chem.

    (2007)
  • J.P.G.L. Frias et al.

    Evidence of microplastics in samples of zooplankton from Portuguese coastal waters

    Mar. Environ. Res.

    (2014)
  • K.N. Fotopoulou et al.

    Surface properties of beached plastic pellets

    Mar. Environ. Res.

    (2012)
  • J. Gauquie et al.

    A qualitative screening and quantitative measurement of organic contaminants on different types of marine plastic debris

    Chemosphere

    (2015)
  • L. Giusti et al.

    Artefacts in sorption experiments with trace metals

    Sci. Total. Environ.

    (1994)
  • H. Hirai et al.

    Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2011)
  • L.A. Holmes et al.

    Adsorption of trace metals to plastic resin pellets in the marine environment

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2012)
  • L.A. Holmes et al.

    Interactions between trace metals and plastic production pellets under estuarine conditions

    Mar. Chem.

    (2014)
  • H.K. Imhof et al.

    Pigments and plastic in limnetic ecosystems: a qualitative and quantitative study on microparticles of different size classes

    Water. Res.

    (2016)
  • J.A. Ivar do Sul et al.

    The present and future of microplastic pollution in the marine environment

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2014)
  • R. Lenz et al.

    A critical assessment of visual identification of marine microplastic using Raman spectroscopy for analysis improvement

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2015)
  • J. Li et al.

    Microplastics in mussels along the coastal waters of China

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2016)
  • L.G. Luís et al.

    Does the presence of microplastics influence the acute toxicity of chromium (VI) to early juveniles of the common goby (Pomatoschistus microps)? A study with juveniles from two wild estuarine populations

    Aquat. Toxicol.

    (2015)
  • A. Mathalon et al.

    Microplastic fibers in the intertidal ecosystem surrounding Halifax Harbor

    Nova Scotia. Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2014)
  • D. Morritt et al.

    Plastic in the Thames: a river runs through it

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2014)
  • A. Münzinger et al.

    A comparison of the sensitivity of three Daphnia magna populations under chronic heavy metal stress

    Ecotox. Environ. Safe

    (1991)
  • K.L. Ng et al.

    Prevalence of microplastics in Singapore's coastal marine environment

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2006)
  • M.T. Nuelle et al.

    A new analytical approach for monitoring microplastics in marine sediments

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2014)
  • K. Pan et al.

    Trace metal contamination in estuarine and coastal environments in China

    Sci. Total. Environ.

    (2012)
  • Q. Qiu et al.

    Occurrence of microplastics in the coastal marine environment: first observation on sediment of China

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2015)
  • S. Rech et al.

    Rivers as a source of marine litter–a study from the SE Pacific

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2014)
  • S.S. Sadri et al.

    On the quantity and composition of floating plastic debris entering and leaving the Tamar Estuary, Southwest England

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2014)
  • W. Sanchez et al.

    Wild gudgeons (Gobio gobio) from French rivers are contaminated by microplastics: preliminary study and first evidence

    Environ. Res.

    (2014)
  • Y.K. Song et al.

    A comparison of microscopic and spectroscopic identification methods for analysis of microplastics in environmental samples

    Mar. Pollut. Bull.

    (2015)
  • A. Van et al.

    Persistent organic pollutants in plastic marine debris found on beaches in San Diego, California

    Chemosphere

    (2012)
  • L. Van Cauwenberghe et al.

    Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2013)
  • L. Van Cauwenberghe et al.

    Microplastics in bivalves cultured for human consumption

    Environ. Pollut.

    (2014)
  • A. Vianello et al.

    Microplastic particles in sediments of Lagoon of Venice, Italy: first observations on occurrence, spatial patterns and identification

    Estuar. Coast. Shelf. S.

    (2013)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text