About This Project

Microplastics are ubiquitous in marine sediments, and many have unique chemical signatures. This makes them ideal indicators of the Anthropocene; however, we know little about their movement as sedimentary particles and how they accumulate. This project aims to investigate the movement of microplastics via modelling in flume and wave tanks, as well as contributing to the body of evidence towards formalising the Anthropocene in the geological timescale.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Microplastics (plastics <5 mm in size) are ubiquitous in marine systems, and many that are currently used today have unique chemical signatures that are not seen in the natural world. This potentially makes them ideal indicators of the "Anthropocene", a proposed geological time period defined by human activity. They are increasingly a source of concern to scientists in a variety of disciplines due to their potential toxicity and widespread uptake in the marine food chain. They are present on shorelines and estuaries, through the water column as well as undergoing transport into seafloor sediments.

What is the significance of this project?

Much study on microplastics has been on their presence on shorelines, as well as examining their potential toxicity. This multidisciplinary project will instead investigate microplastics as geological materials, analysing their transport and deposition. We also aim to contribute to the proposal for the Anthropocene to be recognised as a formal unit of geological time, as well as providing a scientific basis for including microplastic production and management in the Law of the Sea. With this currently high on the agenda of UNEA and the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, the project could also link the geological perspective and the need to identify and address gaps in regulatory frameworks.

What are the goals of the project?

The overall goal of the project is to better understand the transport of microplastics in complex natural systems, by modelling their movement in deep water sediments as turbidites in flume tanks, and on shorelines using wave tanks, as well as testing whether the results seen in lab tests apply to the natural world using field-collected samples from a variety of marine environments. This will fill gaps in our knowledge regarding the movement and deposition of microplastics as sedimentary particles, both on shorelines and in deep sea sediments. Since a regulatory framework to classify and control pollution by marine litter and microplastics is a work in progress, our aim will also be to assist that process.