Transfer dynamic of macroplastics in estuaries — New insights from the Seine estuary: Part 1. Long term dynamic based on date-prints on stranded debris

Abstract

Rivers are a major pathway for plastics between lands and the ocean. At the land-ocean interface, estuaries make the transfer dynamic of plastics complex and nonlinear. That is why very little is known about this dynamic. In this respect, a specific marker (i.e. Microlax packaging) showing date-prints was systematically investigated in different riverbanks of the Seine estuary to identify the share of “old” and “recent” litter transiting through the estuary toward the ocean. Up to 70% of Microlax were “old” plastic items probably related to the meandering dynamic of the river over large time and space scales, and hydrodynamic conditions (tides) at smaller scales. This contributes together to increase the residence time of plastics into the estuary up to decades with almost endless transport, deposit and remobilization cycles. Consequently, the Seine estuary may function as a “microplastic factory” resulting from the fragmentation of macroplastics into microplastics well before they reach the ocean.