Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia

Frank, Yulia A.; Vorobiev, Egor D.; Vorobiev, Danil S.; Trifonov, Andrey A.; Antsiferov, Dmitry V.; Soliman Hunter, Tina; Wilson, Scott P.; Strezov, Vladimir

doi:10.3390/su13010080

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Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia

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Biological Institute, National Research Tomsk State University, Lenina Ave., 36, 634050 Tomsk, Russia

Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010080

Received: 14 November 2020 / Revised: 12 December 2020 / Accepted: 20 December 2020 / Published: 23 December 2020

(This article belongs to the Collection Feature Papers in Sustainable Use of the Environment and Resources)

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Abstract

To date, the largest Russian rivers discharging to the Arctic Ocean remain a “blank spot” on the world map of data on the distribution of microplastics in freshwater systems. This study characterizes the abundance and morphology of microplastics in surface water of the Ob River and its large tributary, the Tom River, in western Siberia. The average number of particles for the two rivers ranged from 44.2 to 51.2 items per m³ or from 79.4 to 87.5 μg per m³ in the Tom River and in the Ob River, respectively. Of the recovered microplastics, 93.5% were less than 1 mm in their largest dimension, the largest group (45.5% of total counts) consisted of particles with sizes range 0.30–1.00 mm. Generally, microfragments of irregular shape were the most abundant among the Ob and Tom samples (47.4%) and exceeded microfibers (22.1%), microfilms (20.8%), and microspheres (9.74%) by average counts. Results from this study provide a baseline for understanding the scale of the transport of microplastics by the Ob River system into the Arctic Ocean and add to currently available data on microplastics abundance and diversity in freshwater systems of differing global geographic locations. View Full-Text

Keywords: microplastic abundance; microplastic cycle; freshwater; rivers

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MDPI and ACS Style

Frank, Y.A.; Vorobiev, E.D.; Vorobiev, D.S.; Trifonov, A.A.; Antsiferov, D.V.; Soliman Hunter, T.; Wilson, S.P.; Strezov, V. Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia. Sustainability 2021, 13, 80. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010080

AMA Style

Frank YA, Vorobiev ED, Vorobiev DS, Trifonov AA, Antsiferov DV, Soliman Hunter T, Wilson SP, Strezov V. Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia. Sustainability. 2021; 13(1):80. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010080

Chicago/Turabian Style

Frank, Yulia A., Egor D. Vorobiev, Danil S. Vorobiev, Andrey A. Trifonov, Dmitry V. Antsiferov, Tina Soliman Hunter, Scott P. Wilson, and Vladimir Strezov. 2021. "Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia" Sustainability 13, no. 1: 80. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010080

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Preliminary Screening for Microplastic Concentrations in the Surface Water of the Ob and Tom Rivers in Siberia, Russia

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