Document Type : scientific research article
Authors
1
Corresponding Author, Associate Prof., Dept. of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous
2
Offshore Water Research Center, Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Chabahar, Iran.
3
Associate Prof., Dept. of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran.
4
Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Munzur University, TR62000, Tunceli, Turkey.
5
Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
6
Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrogenases, Research Institute of Fish and Hydrobiology, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic
Abstract
This study examines the characteristic of microplastics (MPs) in sediments collected from the coastal areas of the southern Caspian Sea, Mazandaran province (Babolsar and Sari cities). Twelve sites for sediment sampling selected during 2022. MPs identification detected primarily under stereomicroscope and then ascertains and discovers their polymer composition by ATR-FTIR. The results showed that Babolsar areas, with 5 meters far from the shoreline, had the most abundance (660±165.15items/Kg). On the other hand, Sari station with 500 meters far from the shoreline contained the least MPs (220±81.33). Average number of detected MPs in all samples was 406.66±161.33. Fibers (80.33%) were the most abundant MPs, whereas films (3.28%) detected the least. In the case of size, the range of 1000-3000µm showed the most abundant MPs (39.34%) and MPs less than 2 µm the least ones (4.10%). Gray and black (50.82%) was the dominant color and yellow (3.28%) was rarely detected color (3.28%). Polymer constituent of examined MPs includes: (PET: 30%); (PS: 20%); (PA: 20%); and (PP: 15%). The findings of this study revealed that MPs occurrence in coastal sediments distribute from several sources; including tourism as well as wastewaters and packaging. These activities cause entering plastic litters along the coastal areas and their degradation accelerated t MPs distribution.
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