Publication Date:
2024-02-07
Description:
Highlights:
• First abundance of MPs in offshore sediments along South-Eastern Mediterranean
• Mean MPs ranged between 1126 ± 1363 MPs/kg.
• Most abundant shapes were fibers and films.
• Most abundant polymer types were PP and PE.
• Coastal landfills and wastewater discharges shaped spatial distribution of MPs.
Few studies on microplastics (MPs) in the marine environment have been conducted along the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and even fewer along the Lebanese coast. This study aims to determine MPs contamination for the first-time in coastal and continental shelf sediments collected along the Lebanese shores, South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Sediments were collected as transects in 10 sites with a total of 23 samples between 2 and 120 m depth and suspected MPs were assessed by moving farther from land-based sources. Microplastics concentrations ranged between 0 and 4500 MPs/kg of dry sediment (1126 ± 1363 MPs/kg). Polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene were the polymers identified on micro-Raman. Coastal landfills and raw sewage effluents were identified as the main sources and routes for MPs into the Lebanese coastal marine environment. This study serves as the first database reporting MPs in continental shelf sediments in the South-Eastern Mediterranean
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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