The hydro-fluctuation belt of the Three Gorges Reservoir: Source or sink of microplastics in the water?

Environmental Pollution
Kai ZhangPaul K S Lam

Abstract

Reservoirs can be an important environmental compartment for microplastic pollution. Previous investigations have found that surface waters and sediments in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) have had high microplastic abundance, and the Xiangxi River, which is one of the largest primary tributaries of the TGR, has had much higher microplastic abundance than several marine and freshwater systems in China. A strip of land on the bank of the reservoir area, which is called the hydro-fluctuation belt (HFB), is periodically exposed due to the special hydrodynamic conditions in the TGR. The HFB may be an important source and/or sink of microplastics in TGR. In this study, microplastic occurrence in sediments from the Xiangxi River HFB was investigated to reflect the local microplastic pollution status and to evaluate its potential to serve as a source/sink of microplastics in the TGR. Seven sampling sites were selected, and sediments within the HFB and above the belt were collected in summer when the water level was low. The results showed that the microplastic abundance ranged from 0.55 ± 0.12 × 103 to 14.58 ± 5.67 × 103 particles m-2, which was one to two orders of magnitude higher than that in sediments from the Xiangxi River in ou...Continue Reading

Citations

Dec 11, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Yasmin Adomat, Thomas Grischek
Feb 28, 2021·Journal of Environmental Sciences (China)·Li LinJohn C Crittenden
May 25, 2021·Environmental Chemistry Letters·Nastaran RazeghiMin Yang
Jun 4, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Tim KiesslingMartin Thiel

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