What Is There to Be Found In Pristine Sediments?

This week I started extracting microplastics from the pristine sediments in St. Andrews Bay (Panama City) to start assessing whether or not proximity to a wastewater treatment plant makes a difference in the amount of microplastics pollution. Although I don't have much data, I can talk about what I have found, and why it is not surprising.

Surprise, there is apparent microplastics pollution in these pristine sediments. Although this may be surprising to you as the reader, it is not shocking based on current literature regarding microplastics pollution. The images here are two potential microfibers from parts of St. Andrews Bay where there are not wastewater treatment plants, and where water from the treatment plants should not flow. We know that macroplastic pollution is abundant in the ocean, and news outlets have recently been reporting on plastics pollution more often than before. We also know that microplastics pollution in the ocean is perhaps more widespread than macroplastic pollution, given that microplastics are smaller and therefore more affected by hydrodynamic forcing (wave action, currents, etc.). Microplastics pollution may come from landfills where plastic materials are broken down by exposure to sunlight and runoff carries the particles to rivers and then the ocean.

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