RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Microplastic pollution in sublittoral coastal sediments of a North Atlantic island: The case of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain).
A1 Díaz Peña, Francisco Javier
A1 Villanova Solano, Cristina
A1 Hernández Sánchez, Cintia
A1 González Sálamo, Javier
A1 González Pleiter, Miguel
A1 Vega Moreno, Daura
A1 Fernández Piñas, Francisca
A1 Fraile Nuez, Eugenio
A1 Machín, Francisco
A1 Hernández Borges, Javier
K1 Microplastics
K1 Fibers
K1 Sediments
K1 Ocean dynamic
K1 Canary Islands
K1 Fourier Transform Infrared microscopy
AB In this work, the microplastic content of sediments collected in July 2020 between 5 and 7 m depth was studied in four locations of La Palma island (Canary Islands, Spain). At each sampling location, three samples were taken parallel to the shoreline. The microplastic content in each sampling corer was studied every 2.5 cm depth after digestion with a H2O2 solution followed by flotation in a saturated NaCl solution. Visualization of the final filtrates under a stereomicroscope revealed that all the sediment samples evaluated contained mostly microfibers (98.3%) which were mainly white/colorless (86.0%) and blue (9.8%), with an average length of 2423 ± 2235 (SD) mm and an average concentration of 2682 ± 827 items per kg of dry weight, being the total number of items found 1,019. Fourier Transform Infrared microscopy analysis of 13.9% (n = 139) of the microfibers also showed that they were mainly cellulosic (81.3%). No significant differences were found between the depths of the sediment. However, significant differences were found between the number of fibers from the sampling sites at the east and west of the island. Such variability could be driven by the winds and ocean mesoscale dynamics in the area. This study confirms the wide distribution of microfibers in sediments from an oceanic island like La Palma, providing their first report in marine sediments of the Canary Islands.
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/35972
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/35972
LA en
NO https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132530
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 08-jun-2024