TY - JOUR
T1 - A first report on the spatial and temporal variability of microplastics in coastal soils of an urban town in south-western India
T2 - Pre- and post-COVID scenario
AU - Reethu, M.
AU - Biswajit, R.
AU - Aravind, G. H.
AU - Rafaz, A. K.
AU - Sandeep, K.
AU - Sijinkumar, A. V.
AU - Warrier, Anish Kumar
N1 - Funding Information:
KS and RM thanks Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Govt. of Kerala, India for research project (No. 336/2022/KSCSTE dated 08/12/2022) and for Junior Research Fellowship (No. 45/FSHP/2016/KSCSTE dated 24/03/2017), respectively. GHA thanks DST-SERB for INSPIRE Fellowship (No. DST/INSPIRE/03/2018/000990 dated 23/10/2019). The authors thank Prof. (Dr.) A. Sakthivel, Dept. of Chemistry, Central University of Kerala, for providing access to the instrumental facility to carry out ATR-FTIR measurements. The authors are grateful to the guest editor and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that helped in improving the quality of the final manuscript.
Funding Information:
KS and RM thanks Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Govt. of Kerala, India for research project (No. 336/2022/KSCSTE dated 08/12/2022) and for Junior Research Fellowship (No. 45/FSHP/2016/KSCSTE dated 24/03/2017), respectively. GHA thanks DST-SERB for INSPIRE Fellowship (No. DST/INSPIRE/03/2018/000990 dated 23/10/2019). The authors thank Prof. (Dr.) A. Sakthivel, Dept. of Chemistry, Central University of Kerala, for providing access to the instrumental facility to carry out ATR-FTIR measurements. The authors are grateful to the guest editor and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that helped in improving the quality of the final manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - We present a first study on the temporal changes (2019–2021) in the microplastic abundance in the coastal soils of an urban town in the south-western part of India. All sampling stations exhibited higher abundances of microplastics in soils collected during 2021 (959.7 ± 277.7 particles/kg) compared to those collected in 2019 (515.1 ± 182.7 particles/kg). Morphologically, flakes, fibres, and films are the most abundant types documented in the soil environment. The microplastics of 0.3–5 mm size are relatively more abundant (60.6 %) compared to those of 0.03–0.3 mm size (39.4 %) in 2021. The three main types of polymers (polypropylene and high- and low-density polyethylene) in the soil exhibited an increase in abundance during an interval of 15 months (October 2019 to March 2021). In addition to packaging materials, the enhanced use of surgical masks during the COVID-19 period might have acted as a source of microplastic contamination in the soils.
AB - We present a first study on the temporal changes (2019–2021) in the microplastic abundance in the coastal soils of an urban town in the south-western part of India. All sampling stations exhibited higher abundances of microplastics in soils collected during 2021 (959.7 ± 277.7 particles/kg) compared to those collected in 2019 (515.1 ± 182.7 particles/kg). Morphologically, flakes, fibres, and films are the most abundant types documented in the soil environment. The microplastics of 0.3–5 mm size are relatively more abundant (60.6 %) compared to those of 0.03–0.3 mm size (39.4 %) in 2021. The three main types of polymers (polypropylene and high- and low-density polyethylene) in the soil exhibited an increase in abundance during an interval of 15 months (October 2019 to March 2021). In addition to packaging materials, the enhanced use of surgical masks during the COVID-19 period might have acted as a source of microplastic contamination in the soils.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114888
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114888
M3 - Article
C2 - 37031557
AN - SCOPUS:85152630214
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 190
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
M1 - 114888
ER -