A neglected transport of plastic debris to cities from farmland in remote arid regions

Although microplastics have been investigated in terrestrial environments, the occurrence and transport of microplastics in semiarid regions with serious wind erosion are still limited. We investigated plastic debris, including macroplastics (>5 mm) and microplastics (50 mu m to 5 mm), from twenty semiarid farmlands and then developed a mass flux model to calculate the quantities of plastic debris transport by wind erosion. Finally, the spatial extent of microplastic deposition was estimated. The average abundance of macroplastics increased with duration of mulching film use, whereas the abundance of microplastics did not change significantly (p > 0.05). Moreover, the highest abundance of microplastics among samples was from the farmland using greenhouse, which suggests that wind erosion played an essential role in retention of plastic debris. Besides, the enrichment ratio (ER) which depends on the shape of microplastics is identified to be a key indicator of the mass flux model. The results showed that 6.91-38.11 kg/ha of plastic debris was released by wind in the 25th year after film application, with 6.14 n/m(2) of microplastics settling in February in Xi'an, which is 690 km away from the source. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that the occurrence and transport of microplastics in semiarid regions with wind erosion are limited, with the highest abundance of microplastics coming from farmlands using greenhouses. The enrichment ratio is identified as a key indicator of the mass flux model.