Dataset Information

Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics.

ABSTRACT: Plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is of high concern because of its persistence in the environment and its potential impact on ecosystems. However, there is a specific lack of data in rivers. Here we present data from the Seine river banks in a historical polluted shore. Data were classified using international MSFD and OSPAR classifications. The sampled site is a quadrat of 1 m2 located downstream in the estuary in a visual maximum along a 1 km shore covered by plastics. A total of 20,259 plastic debris were individually counted, classified and weighted by category for a total mass higher than 4 kg. Half of the plastic debris in number are represented by preproduction pellets.

SUBMITTER: Tramoy R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6369332 | biostudies-other | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics.

Tramoy Romain R Colasse Laurent L Gasperi Johnny J Tassin Bruno B

Data in brief 20190122

Plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is of high concern because of its persistence in the environment and its potential impact on ecosystems. However, there is a specific lack of data in rivers. Here we present data from the Seine river banks in a historical polluted shore. Data were classified using international MSFD and OSPAR classifications. The sampled site is a quadrat of 1 m<sup>2</sup> located downstream in the estuary in a visual maximum along a 1 km shore covered by plastics. A total ...[more]

PMID: 30788405

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Project description:BackgroundAgricultural plastic mulches offer great benefits such as higher yields and lower pesticide use. Yet, plastic mulches may disintegrate over time and fragment into smaller debris. Such plastic debris is expected to remain in the field after removal of the plastic mulch and thus contributes to soil contamination with plastics.MethodTo investigate this, we collected soil samples at 0-10 cm and 10-40 cm depth from three fields covered with black mulch film for three consecutive years. Three fields without any reported plastic use served as control. Visual plastic debris > 1 cm (macroplastics) was collected from the soil surface. Mesoplastics between 2 mm and 1 cm were density separated from the sampled soil using saturated NaCl solution and analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Debris ≤ 2 mm (microplastics) was dispersed from 50 g soil using sodium hexametaphosphate solution followed by the aforementioned density separation. The separated polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were quantified via solvent-based pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS).ResultsWith 89-206 fragments ha-1, the majority of macroplastics were located in fields previously covered with mulch films. 80% of the collected specimen were identified as black PE film. The number of mesoplastics in plastic-mulched soil was 2.3 particles kg-1, while only 1.0 particles kg-1 were found in the reference fields. Py-GC/MS revealed microplastic levels of up to 13 mg kg-1. The PE content was significantly higher in plastic-mulched fields than in reference fields.DiscussionAlthough the identified plastic levels are lower than those reported in comparable studies, our results still suggest that plastic mulching functions as a source of plastic debris in agricultural systems. Due to its severely restricted degradability, these plastics are likely to accumulate in soil in the long term and further fragment into smaller and smaller debris.

Dataset Information

Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics.

Publications

Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics.

Similar Datasets

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