Distribution of beached microplastics carrying POPs at South Atlantic Estuary, Argentina

ARIAS, ANDRES H.; RODRÍGUEZ PIRANI L, PICONE A L, ROMANO R M, DELLA VÉDOVA C OC

Lanzarote

Conferencia; International Conference Plastic Pollution from Macro to Nano (MICRO 2022); 2022

Large microplastics (> 1 mm) were sampled from coastal areas of a highly anthropizedmudat estuary in the austral Buenos Aires province (Argentina). The distribution of mi-croplastics at the intertidal zone, addressed through quadrants sampling, showed that theprincipal beach zones where microplastics tend to accumulate are the high tide and the stormberm line. The average microplastic concentration in the intertidal zone was 5127 mps.dm-3sediments while the average plastic resin pellets concentration was 453 pellets.dm-3 sedi-ments. The diameter of the plastic pellets varied from 3.8 to 4.1 mm while their colour rangedfrom white to yellow/brown. Further studies on these plastic pellets con_rmed HDPE asthe main resin type through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry was used to address the occurrence of Persistent Organic Pollutants(POPs) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) sorbed in the resin pellets. Resultsexpressed as ng/g pellet were as follows: 0.95_0.09 ng/g pellet for P7OCs, 4.03_0.89 ng/gpellet for P7PCBs, 108.76 _ 12.88 ng/g pellet P 16 PAHs and 122.79_11.13 g/g pelletfor P29 PAHs. These _ndings are consistent with previous sedimentary records of thesepollutants and highlight their sorption capacity and suitability as environmental indicatorsof chemical exposure at coastal environments.