Microplastic in Water and Sediments at the Confluence of the Elbe and Mulde Rivers in Germany
Open accessAbstract
Accumulation of microplastics in aquatic environments is an issue of emerging concern. Initially, research focused on marine systems. However, recent studies also investigate the abundance of microplastics in freshwater environments. Rivers connect terrestrial with marine ecosystems and contribute a considerable share of macro- and microplastics to the oceans. A previous study found a large amount of micro-spheres in Dessau downstream the river mouth of the Mulde. Therefore, the objective of this research was to examine whether the Mulde river with its highly industrialized catchment contributes to the microplastic pollution of the Elbe. Sediment (Van Veen grab sampler) and water samples (filter cascade with the smallest mesh size 50 μm and nets with the smallest mesh size 150 μm) were taken from the Elbe river up- and downstream the confluence with the Mulde. After extensive sample preparation, we examined the samples under a digital microscope and determined polymer types by pyrolysis Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (pyr-GC-MS). The amount of primary microplastics increased in sediment and water samples just downstream the confluence. Those microplastics originate probably from the Mulde. We measured larger amounts and different shapes of microplastics in filter cascades that have a smaller mesh size compared to the nets.
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Extensive polystyrene microplastic contamination has been detected in river systems such as the Mulde and Elbe, primarily downstream of industrial sources.
“For example, extensive polystyrene microplastic contamination has been detected in river systems such as the Mulde and Elbe, primarily downstream of industrial sources (Laermanns et al., 2021).”
From Deciphering the toxic effects of polystyrene nanoparticles on erythropoiesis at single-cell resolution (2025) · cites this paper as Laermanns et al., 2021
The Results (section 3.2) identify many sampled spheres as PS or PS-DVB, and the Discussion (section 4.1) reports a remarkable amount downstream of the Elbe–Mulde confluence, most likely coming from the Mulde. But section 4.1 says the data cannot trace the particles to an industrial source, and section 4.2 describes overall microplastic concentrations as remarkably low; the claim overstates both the source attribution and the extent of contamination. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Cites
River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans
Lebreton, L. C. M., van der Zwet, J., Damsteeg, J.-W., Slat, B., Andrady, A., & Reisser, J. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms15611 · Cited by 4,011 · see citing works
Eerkes-Medrano, D., Thompson, R. C., & Aldridge, D. C. (2015) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.012 · Cited by 2,638 · see citing works
Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes
Eriksen, M., Mason, S., Wilson, S., Box, C., Zellers, A., Edwards, W., Farley, H., & Amato, S. (2013) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.007 · Cited by 1,857 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Moreover, the sampling depth of 30 cm below the water surface might have an impact on the abundance of detected polymers and particle shapes (Eriksen et al., 2013; Löder et al., 2017).”
BackgroundKlein, S., Worch, E., & Knepper, T. P. (2015) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b00492 · Cited by 1,181 · see citing works
Microplastics profile along the Rhine River
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Eun, J. K., Medical Research Institute, P. N. U., Medical Research Institute, P. N. U., Hyeon, M. S., Hansong, L., Soyul, A., Yejin, K., Chae, R. L., Kihun, K., Kyungjae, M., et al. (2025) · Zoological Research · doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2024.277 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Laermanns, H., Reifferscheid, G., Kruse, J., Földi, C., Dierkes, G., Schaefer, D., Scherer, C., Bogner, C., & Stock, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Cologne (DE)
- Federal Institute of Hydrology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Laermanns, Hannes
- Stock, Friederike
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Environmental Science
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2021-12-17
- Volume
- 9
- ISSN
- 2296-665X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4200569309
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 2.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Environmental Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- ERef Bayreuth (University of Bayreuth) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Bundesministerium für Verkehr und Digitale Infrastruktur (M39620304028)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 1357 project no 391977956)
- 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, freshwater microplastic pollution, Elbe River, Mulde River, river confluence, river sediments, river water, primary microplastics, polymer identification
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