Microplastics
Topic: Oceans: Hydrological Cycle, Relief of the Ocean Floor, Temperature and Salinity · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm. Some come from larger plastic waste, which sunlight and waves break into smaller and smaller bits. Others come from fibres shed by synthetic clothes and from tiny beads in cosmetics. They do not rot away, so they build up in the sea. Small sea creatures and fish swallow them, and so the plastic moves up food chains towards humans.
Example
Microplastics have been found in the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. They have also been found frozen in Arctic sea ice. Together these show that no part of the ocean is free of them.
Related concepts
- Ocean acidification
- Ocean deoxygenation
- Marine heatwave
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
- BBNJ Agreement