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Microplastics profile along the Rhine River
Open accessAbstract
Microplastics result from fragmentation of plastic debris or are released to the environment as pre-production pellets or components of consumer and industrial products. In the oceans, they contribute to the ‘great garbage patches’. They are ingested by many organisms, from protozoa to baleen whales and pose a threat to the aquatic fauna. Although as much as 80% of marine debris originates from land, little attention was given to the role of rivers as debris pathways to the sea. Worldwide, not a single great river has yet been studied for the surface microplastics load over its length. We report the abundance and composition of microplastics at the surface of the Rhine, one of the largest European rivers. Measurements were made at 11 locations over a stretch of 820 km. Microplastics were found in all samples, with 892,777 particles km −2 on average. In the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, a peak concentration of 3.9 million particles km −2 was measured. Microplastics concentrations were diverse along and across the river, reflecting various sources and sinks such as waste water treatment plants, tributaries and weirs. Measures should be implemented to avoid and reduce the pollution with anthropogenic litter in aquatic ecosystems.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mani, T., Hauk, A., Walter, U., & Burkhardt-Holm, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel (CH)
- Intertek (Switzerland) (CH)
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2015-12-08
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 17988-17988
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4672315
- OpenAlex
- W2428475944
- Cited by
- 1,010
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 109 · 2023: 116 · 2022: 141 · 2021: 122 · 2020: 159 · 2019: 81 · 2018: 73 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 17
- FWCI
- 26.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel) (acceptedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel)
- Funders
- Universität Basel
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
- Universität Wien
- Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau
- Rijkswaterstaat
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Waste Management and Recycling
- Keywords
- microplastics, Rhine River, riverine plastic pollution, microplastic abundance, microplastic composition, surface water contamination, wastewater treatment plants, tributaries, weirs, anthropogenic litter
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Monitoring, Geography, Humans, Plastics, Waste Products, Ecosystem, Rivers
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