Influential factors on microplastics occurrence in river sediments

Beibei He; Buddhi Wijesiri; Godwin A Ayoko; Prasanna Egodawatta; Llew Rintoul; Ashantha Goonetilleke

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139901

Influential factors on microplastics occurrence in river sediments

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Oct 10:738:139901. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139901. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Authors

Beibei He¹, Buddhi Wijesiri², Godwin A Ayoko³, Prasanna Egodawatta⁴, Llew Rintoul⁵, Ashantha Goonetilleke⁶

Affiliations

¹ Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: beibei.he@hdr.qut.edu.au.
² Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: b.mahappukankanamalage@qut.edu.au.
³ Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: g.ayoko@qut.edu.au.
⁴ Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: p.egodawatta@qut.edu.au.
⁵ Institute for Further Environments, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 14 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: l.rintoul@qut.edu.au.
⁶ Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Electronic address: a.goonetilleke@qut.edu.au.

PMID: 32531603
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139901

Abstract

Rivers are regarded as sinks and pathways of plastic pollutants from terrestrial environments to various other aquatic systems such as lakes and oceans. Although extensive research has been conducted in recent years on microplastic pollution in river sediments, knowledge on the relationships between potential influential factors such as catchment characteristics and sediment properties, and microplastics occurrence in river sediments, is still considered an under-researched area. This study evaluated the influence of land use, population, and sediment particle size on the presence of microplastics abundance and types. Based on a Bayesian Network modelling approach to characterise the correlations between influencing factors and microplastics occurrence, it was evident that microplastics type had a positive correlation with different land use types and population. Catchment characteristics were found to play a more important role in influencing microplastics type than microplastics concentration. A statistically significant positive relationship was observed between microplastics concentration and clay particles which suggested that the occurrence of microplastics in sediments can be impacted by the presence of clay particles.

Keywords: Catchment characteristics; Microplastics; River sediments; Sediment properties.