TY - JOUR
T1 - Contamination and distribution of buried microplastics in Sarakkuwa beach ensuing the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster in Sri Lankan sea
AU - Sewwandi, Madushika
AU - Amarathunga, A. A.D.
AU - Wijesekara, Hasintha
AU - Mahatantila, Kushani
AU - Vithanage, Meththika
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Abundance of buried microplastics in sand profiles and pellet pollution index at Sarakkuwa beach, at west-coast of Sri Lanka was studied as a case study due to the receival of plastic nurdles and debris from the MV X-Press Pearl ship disaster in May 2021. Sand collected at 7 locations to a depth of 2 m in different depths for a beach segment of 200 × 25 m2 during October 2021 and sand samples obtained from beach surface during March 2020 from the same location were analyzed for microplastics. Beach was contaminated with 2–5 mm sized partially pyrolyzed LDPE fragments and nurdles demonstrating a peak abundance of 13.3702 g/kg and1 mm-500 μm sized LDPE fragments up to 2.0 m depth. High concentrations of Mo and Cr were observed in the sand collected in 2021. Sarakkuwa beach is critically polluted by nurdles, partially pyrolyzed microplastics, and toxic elements from ship disaster.
AB - Abundance of buried microplastics in sand profiles and pellet pollution index at Sarakkuwa beach, at west-coast of Sri Lanka was studied as a case study due to the receival of plastic nurdles and debris from the MV X-Press Pearl ship disaster in May 2021. Sand collected at 7 locations to a depth of 2 m in different depths for a beach segment of 200 × 25 m2 during October 2021 and sand samples obtained from beach surface during March 2020 from the same location were analyzed for microplastics. Beach was contaminated with 2–5 mm sized partially pyrolyzed LDPE fragments and nurdles demonstrating a peak abundance of 13.3702 g/kg and1 mm-500 μm sized LDPE fragments up to 2.0 m depth. High concentrations of Mo and Cr were observed in the sand collected in 2021. Sarakkuwa beach is critically polluted by nurdles, partially pyrolyzed microplastics, and toxic elements from ship disaster.
KW - Marine microplastics
KW - Maritime accidents
KW - Nurdles
KW - Pellet pollution index
KW - Polluted sand
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137740078&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114074
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114074
M3 - Article
C2 - 36095967
AN - SCOPUS:85137740078
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 184
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
M1 - 114074
ER -
