Characteristics and distribution of microplastics in the surface water of the Songhua River in China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 45; pp. 64268 - 64277
• Main Authors: Tang, Shuyuan, Gao, Ling, Gao, Hongze, Zou, Donglei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Color; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Microplastics; Plastic debris; Plastic pollution; Polymers; Polystyrene resins; Research Article; Rivers; Sampling; Surface water; Urban areas; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Songhua River; China; Size distribution; Spatial distribution; Characteristics; Surface water; Abundance; Microplastics; Songhua River
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-15296-1

This paper studied on the microplastics (MPs) pollution in the surface water of the Songhua River in China. MPs were detected in all sampling sites of the river, the abundance of MPs ranged from 1.09 to 15.97 items/L, and the average abundance was 5.72 ± 4.02 items/L. Human interference had a significant impact on the abundance of MPs, and abundance in the downstream were higher than those in the upstream in the urban area along the Songhua River. In this study, MPs with size <0.5 mm and size [0.5,1) mm were the main sizes; fiber and debris were the most common types; yellow was the dominant color. MPs in the Songhua River might have similar sources and degradation experiences, because the size, type, and color had no significant difference ( P >0.05) in different sampling sections. PE, PET, and PS were the most common polymers of MPs, accounting for 33.55%, 29.68%, and 18.71%, respectively.