Small plastic debris changes water movement and heat transfer through beach sediments

• Published in: Marine pollution bulletin 2011-08, Vol.62 (8), p.1708-1713
• Main Authors: Carson, Henry S., Colbert, Steven L., Kaylor, Matthew J., McDermid, Karla J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of variance; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Bathing Beaches; Beaches; Biological and medical sciences; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; eggs; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Fragments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Grain size; Hawaii; Heat transfer; Hot Temperature; Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, USA; Marine; Marine and brackish environment; Marine debris; Microplastic; Natural water pollution; Oceans and Seas; Particle Size; Permeability; plastics; Plastics - analysis; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; polyethylene; Polyethylenes; Porosity; Sea turtles; Seawaters, estuaries; sediment; Sediments; sex determination; t-test; temperature; thermal diffusivity; Waste Products - analysis; Water Movements; Water pollution; Water treatment and pollution
• ISSN: 0025-326X; 1879-3363
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.05.032

► High concentrations of plastic fragments increase beach sediment permeability. ► Moderate concentrations of plastic fragments thermally insulate beach sediments. ► These changes have a variety of potential impacts on beach organisms. We investigated the physical properties of beaches contaminated with plastic fragments. We compared sediment cores from Hawai‘i Island’s Kamilo Beach, notable for plastic accumulation, to cores from a nearby beach. Compared to the nearby beach, Kamilo sediments contained more plastics (up to 30.2% by weight), were coarser-grained, and were more permeable (t-test, p