Distribution, characteristics and short-term variability of microplastics in beach sediment of Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil.

Fernando de Noronha Archipelago is highly vulnerable to microplastic pollution, which has been previously reported with snapshot samplings on the site. The present study has performed daily beach sediment samplings on the archipelago, aiming to assess the distribution, characteristics and short-term variability of microplastics (1-5 mm), expressing concentrations in three different units. The concentrations ranged from 0.6 ± 2.5 particles/m2 to 1059.3 ± 1385.6 particles/m2 and showed a large spatial and temporal small-scale variability. The results indicate that microplastic contamination is recurrent in Fernando de Noronha and the distribution of these particles is associated with a combination of various physical processes. A wider comparison with results obtained in beaches worldwide was possible using different units of concentration, but standard methods for sampling and analysis of microplastics is needed to better understanding of large-scale spatial and temporal variability.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Marine Pollution Bulletin

• Publication date

  2021-03-06

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112212PMID 33690085
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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