An international team of researchers describeD how deep-sea currents transport and dump large quantities of microplastic across the ocean floor.
"Until now we haven't understood where the missing microplastics in the ocean end up and how they are transported," Mike Clare of the National Oceanography Centre told."We know that there are concentrations of plastic on the ocean's surface, but this accounts for less than one percent of the plastic that makes it into the ocean."
The results suggest deep-sea ocean currents driven by temperature and salinity transport fibers and fragments of plastic, as well as nutrients and oxygenated water, across the seafloor. The formation of these currents can cause these plastics to accumulate in certain areas, described in the paper as"microplastic hotspots."
While the research is entirely focused on one site in the Mediterranean, these currents run around the globe and the study's authors suggest the process will play an important role in the distribution of plastic elsewhere. However, more research is needed to determine exactly what kind of effect they are having in other parts of the world.
It is largely unknown what kind of impact these hotspots might have on marine ecosystems. But if microplastics are piggybacking on currents that carry oxygenated water and nutrients across the ocean, there is a concern they could affect organisms that ingest or absorb these plastics. Previous studies have suggested the consumption of microplastics can change animal behavior, making periwinkles more vulnerable to attack from predators.
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