Microplastics in a Remote Lake Basin of the Tibetan Plateau: Impacts of Atmospheric Transport and Glacial Melting

Plastic pollution is fast becoming one of the most pressing global issues that we currently face. Remote areas, such as the polar regions and the Tibetan Plateau, are now also exposed to microplastic contamination. However, with the impact of global warming, the transport of microplastics within the glacier-lake basins in such regions remains unclear. In this work, the Nam Co Basin in the Tibetan Plateau was selected to study the characteristics of microplastics in the rain fallout, lake water, glacial runoff, and non-glacial runoff. Fiber and films were the most common microplastic morphologies in all water samples; a higher proportion (37%) of light-weighing polypropylene and small-size (50-300 mu m, similar to 30%) microplastics were found in the glacial runoff. Air mass trajectory analysis showed that microplastics could be transported through the atmosphere over a distance of up to 800 km. For microplastic loading in lakes, the atmospheric fallout was estimated to be 3.3 tons during the monsoon season, whereas the contributions of glacial runoff (similar to 41 kg) and non-glacial runoff (similar to 522 kg) were relatively low. For the microplastic loading in glaciers, the atmospheric deposition was similar to 500 kg/yr, and the output caused by glacial melting only accounted 8% of the total atmospheric input. All these results suggested that the dominant pathway through which microplastics enter remote mountainous lake basins is atmospheric deposition, and once deposited on glaciers, microplastics will be stored for a long time. This work provides quantitative evidence elucidating the fate of microplastics in alpine lake environments.

Automated summary

The study conducted in the Nam Co Basin on the Tibetan Plateau showed that atmospheric deposition is the primary pathway for microplastics entering mountainous lake basins. It also found a higher proportion of lightweight polypropylene and small-size microplastics in glacial runoff.