Microplastics in Sediments as an Indicator of Human Activity

In a review article recently published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), report on how human activity has altered Earth’s sediments over the decades. New synthetic materials are continuously invented and used, and subsequently enter the environment through improper disposal, where they are deposited in sediment layers. The researchers propose using small plastic particles (1 µm–5 mm in size, microplastics) in sediment as markers for the so-called Anthropocene (a proposed new geologic epoch shaped by humans).

Download full joint PDF press release by
Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)

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