title: The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris.
abstract: Marine debris, mostly consisting of plastic, is a global problem, negatively impacting wildlife, tourism and shipping. However, despite the durability of plastic, and the exponential increase in its production, monitoring data show limited evidence of concomitant increasing concentrations in marine habitats. There appears to be a considerable proportion of the manufactured plastic that is unaccounted for in surveys tracking the fate of environmental plastics. Even the discovery of widespread accumulation of microscopic fragments (microplastics) in oceanic gyres and shallow water sediments is unable to explain the missing fraction. Here, we show that deep-sea sediments are a likely sink for microplastics. Microplastic, in the form of fibres, was up to four orders of magnitude more abundant (per unit volume) in deep-sea sediments from the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean than in contaminated sea-surface waters. Our results show evidence for a large and hitherto unknown repository of microplastics. The dominance of microfibres points to a previously underreported and unsampled plastic fraction. Given the vastness of the deep sea and the prevalence of microplastics at all sites we investigated, the deep-sea floor appears to provide an answer to the question-where is all the plastic?
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences , The Natural History Museum , Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD , UK.
authors.forename: Lucy C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Woodall
authors.affiliation: GRC Geociències Marines, Departament d' Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines , Universitat de Barcelona , 08028 Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Vidal
authors.affiliation: GRC Geociències Marines, Departament d' Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines , Universitat de Barcelona , 08028 Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canals
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences , The Natural History Museum , Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD , UK.
authors.forename: Gordon L J
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.affiliation: Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Marine Science and Engineering , Plymouth University , Plymouth, Devon PL4 8 AA , UK.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coppock
authors.affiliation: Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Marine Science and Engineering , Plymouth University , Plymouth, Devon PL4 8 AA , UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sleight
authors.affiliation: GRC Geociències Marines, Departament d' Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines , Universitat de Barcelona , 08028 Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calafat
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology , University of Oxford , Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS , UK.
authors.forename: Alex D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: The Scottish Association for Marine Science , Scottish Marine Institute , Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA , UK.
authors.forename: Bhavani E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Narayanaswamy
authors.affiliation: Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Marine Science and Engineering , Plymouth University , Plymouth, Devon PL4 8 AA , UK.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Thompson
keywords: fibres; litter; marine; microplastic; plastic; seabed