Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1150755
This article is part of the Research Topic Emerging Contaminants and Their Potential Impacts on Estuarine Ecosystems View all 5 articles

Source of plastic contamination of the rivers ending to the Gorgan Bay, southeast of the Caspian Sea, Iran

Provisionally accepted
Mohammad Gholizadeh Mohammad Gholizadeh 1*Seyed Aliakbar Hedayati Seyed Aliakbar Hedayati 2Mojtaba Pouladi Mojtaba Pouladi 3Arumugam Sundaramanickam Arumugam Sundaramanickam 4
  • 1 Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad-e Kāvūs, Iran
  • 2 Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Golestan, Iran
  • 3 Iranian Fisheries Research Organization, Tehran, Alborz, Iran
  • 4 Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The widespread presence of microplastics (MPs) in freshwater systems as an emerging environmental pollutant has caused a global environmental problem. The present study investigates the distribution and abundance of source pathway and abundance of microplastics in surface sediment samples from rivers discharging into the Gorgan Bay, southeast of the Caspian Sea. A total of 57 surface sediment samples were taken from 19 stations to investigate the potential hot spots of pollution in the four rivers leading to the Gorgan Bay. The average level of microplastics was 333 ± 268 particles/kg. The highest amount is in the estuary of the Qarasu River (1080 ± 380 particles/kg) due to the accumulation of fishing, boating and tourism activities and the lowest amount in the forest area (80 ± 19 particles/kg) in the Klak River. The most common type of microplastic was fiber (68%). Microplastic pollution in the studied rivers is mostly black and gray (75.39%), and about 53% of them were sized less than 1000 μm. Spectroscopic analysis (Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) of the MP showed that 37% were polyethylene, polyethylene (37%) and polypropylene (27%) were the dominating groups. The sediments' size was significantly correlated (p>0.05) with the presence of microplastics.Sediments with a coarse grain (sand) demonstrated a great potential to store microplastics. The results of this study can be used for the management and protection policies of Gorgan Bay.

    Keywords: freshwater environments, Riverine microplastics, sediment, Land-use, Gorgan Bay

    Received: 24 Jan 2023; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gholizadeh, Hedayati, Pouladi and Sundaramanickam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mohammad Gholizadeh, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad-e Kāvūs, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.