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Type
ArticleAuthors
Cózar, AndrésSanz-Martín, Marina
Martí, Elisa

González-Gordillo, J. Ignacio

Ubeda, Bárbara
Gálvez, José Á.
Irigoien, Xabier

Duarte, Carlos M.

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Plankton ecology Research Group
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2015-04-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/348469
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Concentrations of floating plastic were measured throughout the Mediterranean Sea to assess whether this basin can be regarded as a great accumulation region of plastic debris. We found that the average density of plastic (1 item per 4 m2), as well as its frequency of occurrence (100% of the sites sampled), are comparable to the accumulation zones described for the five subtropical ocean gyres. Plastic debris in the Mediterranean surface waters was dominated by millimeter-sized fragments, but showed a higher proportion of large plastic objects than that present in oceanic gyres, reflecting the closer connection with pollution sources. The accumulation of floating plastic in the Mediterranean Sea (between 1,000 and 3,000 tons) is likely related to the high human pressure together with the hydrodynamics of this semi-enclosed basin, with outflow mainly occurring through a deep water layer. Given the biological richness and concentration of economic activities in the Mediterranean Sea, the affects of plastic pollution on marine and human life are expected to be particularly frequent in this plastic accumulation region.Citation
Plastic Accumulation in the Mediterranean Sea 2015, 10 (4):e0121762 PLOS ONEPublisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)Journal
PLoS ONEPubMed ID
25831129PubMed Central ID
PMC4382178Additional Links
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121762ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1371/journal.pone.0121762
Scopus Count
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