Augmentation of global marine sedimentary carbon storage in the age of plastic

Craig Smeaton

doi:10.1002/lol2.10187

Augmentation of global marine sedimentary carbon storage in the age of plastic

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

Abstract

Plastic is entering the world's oceans at an unprecedented rate impacting the functioning of the natural marine environment. Yet little consideration has been given to the potential of carbon (C) in the form of plastic (C_plas) to augment the marine carbon system. Here it is shown that C_plas is an integral part of the anthropogenic marine C cycle. Annually, 7.8 ± 1.73 Mt of C_plas is deposited at the seabed with a further 17.2–57.1 Mt C_plas already present on the seafloor. The quantity of C_plas currently being deposited on the seabed annually exceeds the rate at which organic carbon (OC) is buried in some marine sediments and by 2050 it is possible that the rate at which C_plas is buried will match fjord sediments which are global hotspots for OC burial. Though unwanted this new anthropogenic pathway for C to reach the marine environment cannot be ignored.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	113-118
Number of pages	6
Journal	Limnology and Oceanography Letters
Volume	6
Issue number	3
Early online date	8 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10187
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Plastic
Carbon
Seabed
Seafloor
Burial
Sediment

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10.1002/lol2.10187Licence: CC BY

Smeaton-2021-Augmentation-of-global-marine-LimnOceanLett-CCBY
Copyright © 2021 The Author. Limnology and Oceanography Letters published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 607 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{28b9206634fe49a7a6c8692e2ff8c300,

title = "Augmentation of global marine sedimentary carbon storage in the age of plastic",

abstract = "Plastic is entering the world's oceans at an unprecedented rate impacting the functioning of the natural marine environment. Yet little consideration has been given to the potential of carbon (C) in the form of plastic (Cplas) to augment the marine carbon system. Here it is shown that Cplas is an integral part of the anthropogenic marine C cycle. Annually, 7.8 ± 1.73 Mt of Cplas is deposited at the seabed with a further 17.2–57.1 Mt Cplas already present on the seafloor. The quantity of Cplas currently being deposited on the seabed annually exceeds the rate at which organic carbon (OC) is buried in some marine sediments and by 2050 it is possible that the rate at which Cplas is buried will match fjord sediments which are global hotspots for OC burial. Though unwanted this new anthropogenic pathway for C to reach the marine environment cannot be ignored.",

keywords = "Plastic, Carbon, Seabed, Seafloor, Burial, Sediment",

author = "Craig Smeaton",

note = "Funding: Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society, Natural Environment Research Council (GrantNumber(s): NE/L501852/1).",

year = "2021",

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doi = "10.1002/lol2.10187",

language = "English",

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pages = "113--118",

journal = "Limnology and Oceanography Letters",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Augmentation of global marine sedimentary carbon storage in the age of plastic

AU - Smeaton, Craig

N1 - Funding: Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society, Natural Environment Research Council (GrantNumber(s): NE/L501852/1).

PY - 2021/6

Y1 - 2021/6

N2 - Plastic is entering the world's oceans at an unprecedented rate impacting the functioning of the natural marine environment. Yet little consideration has been given to the potential of carbon (C) in the form of plastic (Cplas) to augment the marine carbon system. Here it is shown that Cplas is an integral part of the anthropogenic marine C cycle. Annually, 7.8 ± 1.73 Mt of Cplas is deposited at the seabed with a further 17.2–57.1 Mt Cplas already present on the seafloor. The quantity of Cplas currently being deposited on the seabed annually exceeds the rate at which organic carbon (OC) is buried in some marine sediments and by 2050 it is possible that the rate at which Cplas is buried will match fjord sediments which are global hotspots for OC burial. Though unwanted this new anthropogenic pathway for C to reach the marine environment cannot be ignored.

AB - Plastic is entering the world's oceans at an unprecedented rate impacting the functioning of the natural marine environment. Yet little consideration has been given to the potential of carbon (C) in the form of plastic (Cplas) to augment the marine carbon system. Here it is shown that Cplas is an integral part of the anthropogenic marine C cycle. Annually, 7.8 ± 1.73 Mt of Cplas is deposited at the seabed with a further 17.2–57.1 Mt Cplas already present on the seafloor. The quantity of Cplas currently being deposited on the seabed annually exceeds the rate at which organic carbon (OC) is buried in some marine sediments and by 2050 it is possible that the rate at which Cplas is buried will match fjord sediments which are global hotspots for OC burial. Though unwanted this new anthropogenic pathway for C to reach the marine environment cannot be ignored.

KW - Plastic

KW - Carbon

KW - Seabed

KW - Seafloor

KW - Burial

KW - Sediment

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85109202134

U2 - 10.1002/lol2.10187

DO - 10.1002/lol2.10187

M3 - Letter

SN - 2378-2242

VL - 6

SP - 113

EP - 118

JO - Limnology and Oceanography Letters

JF - Limnology and Oceanography Letters

IS - 3

ER -

Augmentation of global marine sedimentary carbon storage in the age of plastic

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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