第八届青年地学论坛

Microplastics (MPs) refer to plastic particles with a size less than 5 mm, which have been widely concerned as a new pollutant. The monitoring of atmosphere microplastics (AMPs) in Wuhan was carried out to study the characteristics and spatiotemporal distribution of AMPs, explore their source and estimate the deposition flux. The results showed that the annual average abundance of AMPs in Wuhan was 117.21±72.34 n·m^-2·day^-1. The abundance of AMPs was highest in autumn, followed by winter, summer, and spring. The abundance of AMPs in the central city was higher than suburban area. The fiber was the main type of AMPs in Wuhan, followed by fragment, film and particle. The size of AMPs was mainly small (0-0.5 mm) and medium (0.5-1 mm). Transparent and white were the main colors of AMPs, followed by red and brown. A total of 10 types polymers were detected, polyester (PET) was dominant. There are positive correlations between AMPs and SO₂, NO₂ in the atmosphere, indicating that AMPs might be influenced by industrial emissions. The seasonal change rules of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and AMPs were consistent, showing that AMPs may have some influence on the distribution of PAHs. AMPs in Wuhan mainly originated from the wear and tear shedding of textiles and the aging of agricultural films and plastic waste. The potential geographical sources of AMPs in Wuhan were mainly the surrounding provinces and cities, such as Suizhou, Xiaogan. The trajectories of air masses in different seasons have some divisions, and the AMPs mainly came from the northwest air masses in autumn. The annual deposition flux of AMPs in Wuhan was about 278 tons, which was equivalent to about 20 million 500 mL plastic water bottles.
 

Atmospheric microplastics; Spatiotemporal distribution; Source analysis; Deposition flux