Microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Xiamen coastal areas: Implications for anthropogenic impacts

Guowen Tang; Mengyang Liu; Qian Zhou; Haixia He; Kai Chen; Haibo Zhang; Jiahui Hu; Qinghui Huang; Yongming Luo; Hongwei Ke; Bin Chen; Xiangrong Xu; Minggang Cai

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.336

Microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Xiamen coastal areas: Implications for anthropogenic impacts

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Sep 1:634:811-820. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.336. Epub 2018 Apr 10.

Authors

Guowen Tang¹, Mengyang Liu¹, Qian Zhou², Haixia He³, Kai Chen³, Haibo Zhang⁴, Jiahui Hu⁵, Qinghui Huang⁶, Yongming Luo², Hongwei Ke¹, Bin Chen³, Xiangrong Xu⁷, Minggang Cai⁸

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
² Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China.
³ Coastal and Ocean Management Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
⁵ College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment of the Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; Coastal and Ocean Management Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address: mgcai@xmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 29653425
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.336

Abstract

Microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated to study the influence of human activities and to find their possible relationship on the coastal environments, where the coastal areas around Xiamen are undergoing intensive processes of industrialization and urbanization in the southeast China. The abundance of microplastics in Xiamen coastal areas was 103 to 2017particles/m³ in surface seawater and 76 to 333 particles/kg in sediments. Concentrations of dissolved PAHs varied from 18.1 to 248ng/L in surface seawater. The abundances of microplastics from the Western Harbor in surface seawater and sediments were higher than those from other areas. Foams were dominated in surface seawater samples, however, no foams were found in sediments samples. The microscope selection and FTIR analysis suggested that polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were dominant microplastics. The cluster analysis results demonstrated that fibers and granules had the similar sources, and films had considerably correlation with all types of PAHs (3 or 4-ring PAHs and alkylated PAHs). Plastic film mulch from agriculture practice might be a potential source of microplastics in study areas. Results of our study support that river runoff, watershed area, population and urbanization rate influence the distribution of microplastics in estuarine surface water, and the prevalence of microplastic pollution calls for monitoring microplastics at a national scale.

Keywords: Cluster analysis; Correlation analysis; Human activities; Microplastics; POPs; Southeast China.