an international team of scientists found at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, between Corsica and Italy, the largest concentration of micro-plastic particles. In the upper sediment layer contains 1.9 million plastic particles per square meter, the researchers report in the journal Science.
This is the highest concentration of micro-plastic (less than 1mm) in the world’s oceans in the entire history of observations.
Ian Kane from the University of Manchester (UK) and his colleagues studied the so-called drift deposits of different points of the seabed between Corsica and Italy was shocked by the result. “In some cases consisted of 190 particles in 50 grams of sludge – this corresponds to a concentration of 1.9 million micro-plastic per square meter of the seabed. This exceeds twice the highest value ever found, even from deep-sea canyons”.
In all likelihood, these pieces were plastic fibers from synthetic fabrics, as well as fragments of larger plastic items that eventually collapsed.
Moreover, scientists believe that only about 1% of the micro-plastic is still visible in the form of a floating waste – the rest goes deep into the sea. Where are the 99%, we can only assume that the part absorbed by marine animals, the other drowned.
“We noticed that the microparticles are unevenly distributed in the study region. Plastic particles concentrated in certain places on the bottom of the ocean with powerful currents, says Kane. – These currents carry particulates over long distances and create a so-called drift deposits”.
Thus, microplastics, once on depth, falls into a continuous sea currents and creates “hot spots” of contamination at the bottom. “Unfortunately, plastic was a new type of sludge that is spread on the seabed along with sand, mud and nutrients,” says co-author Florian Paul from Durham University (UK).
