Skip to Main Content
University of Texas University of Texas Libraries

What is Marine Debris & Microplastics?

Topic guide about marine debris and microplastics. Guide offers how to find reliable sources.

Marine Debris

What is Marine Debris?

Marine debris is defined as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes. 

"118-kranji-iccs2007.JPG"by Habitatnews is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

NOAA. What is marine debris? National Ocean Service website, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/marinedebris.html, 06/25/18.

Resources

Cozar, A., Echevarria, F., Gonzalez-Gordillo, J. I., Irigoien, X., Ubeda, B., Hernandez-Leon, S., Palma, A. T., Navarro, S., Garcia-de-Lomas, J., Ruiz, A., Fernandez-de-Puelles, M. l., annd Duartte, C. M. 2014. Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 111(28):10239-10244. DOI link

Critchell, K. and Lambrechts, J. 2016. Modelling accumulation of marine plastics in the coastal zone; what are the dominant physical processes? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 171:111-122. DOI link

Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T. R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., and Law, K. L. 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science 347(6223):768-771. DOI link

Gall, S.C. and Thompson, R.C. 2015. The impact of debris on marine life. Marine Pollution Bulletin 92:170-179. DOI link

Jung, M.R., Balazs, G.H., Work, T.M., Jones, T.T., Orski, S.V., Rodriguez, V.C., Beers, K.L., Brignac, K.C., Hyrenbach, K.D., Jensen, B.A., and Lynch, J.M. 2018. Polymer Identification of Plastic Debris Ingested by Pelagic-Phase Sea Turtles in the Central Pacific. Environmental Science & Technology 52(20):11535-11544. DOI link

Koelmans, A.A., Besseling, E., Wegner, A, and Foekema, E.M. 2013. Plastic as a carrier of POPs to aquatic organisms: A Model analysis. Environmental Science and Technology 47(14):7812-7820. DOI link                  

Time-Travelling Deep Sea Scientists Reveal Historic Plastics Problem
  • MARLISCO

Bergmann, M., Lutz, B., Tekman, M.B., Gutow, L. 2017. Citizen scientists reveal: Marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life. Marine Pollution Bulletin 125(1-2):535-540.

Bergmann, M., Wirzberger, V., Krumpen, T., Lorenz, C., Primpke, S., Tekman, M.B., and Gerdts, G. 2017. High quantities of microplastic in Arctic deep-sea sediments from the HAUSGARTEN Observatory. Environmental Science & Technology 51(19):11000-11010. DOI link

Kuhn, S., Schaafsma, F.L., van Werven, B., Flores, H., Bergmann, M., Egelkraut-Holtus, M., Tekman, M.B., van Franeker, J.A. 2018. Plastic ingestion by juvenile polar cod (Boreogadus saida) in the Arctic Ocean. Polar Biology 41(6):1269-1278. DOI link

Kunz, A., Walther, B.A., Lowemark, L., and Lee, Y.-C. 2016. Distribution and quantity of microplastic on sandy beaches along the northern coast of Taiwan. Marine Pollution Bulletin 111(1-2):126-135. DOI link

Law, K.L., Moret-Ferguson, S.E., Goodwin, D.S., Zettler, E.R., DeForce, E., Kukulka, T. and Proskurowski, G. 2014. Distribution of surface plastic debris in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from an 11-year data set. Environmental Science and Technology 48:4732-4738. DOI link 

Naji, A., Esmaili, Z., and Khan, F.R. 2017. Plastic debris and microplastics along the beaches of the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf. Marine Pollution Bulletin 114(2):1057-1062. DOI link

Tsang, Y.Y., Mak, C.W., Liebich, C., Lam, S.W., Sze, E.T-P. and Chan, K.M. 2017. Microplastic pollution in the marine waters and sediments of Hong Kong. Marine Pollution Bulletin 115:20-18. DOI link

Andrady, A. L. 2011. Microplastics in the marine environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin 62(8):1596-1605. DOI link

Avio, C. G., Gorbi, S., and Regoli, F. 2016. Plastics and microplastics in the oceans: From emerging pollutants to emerged threat. Marine Environmental Research 128:2-11. DOI link

Brennecke, D., Duarte, B., Paiva, F., and Cacador, I. 2016. Microplastics as a vector for heavy metal contamination from marine environments. Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science 178:189-195.

Karami, A., Golieskardi, A., Choo, C. K., Larat, V., and Galloway, T. S. 2017. The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries. Scientific Reports 7(46173) DOI link 

Karlsson, T.M., et al. 2018. The unaccountability case of plastic pellet pollution. Marine Pollution Bulletin 129(1):52-60.

MacArthur, E. 2017. Beyond plastic waste. Science 358(6365):843. DOI link

Van Dyke Walden, J. 2018. How plastic pollution is hurting the Gulf of Mexico. Houston Chronicle.

Wessel, C.C., Lockridge, G., Battiste, D., and Cebrian, J. 2016. Abundance and characteristics of microplastics in beach sediments: Insight into microplastic accumulation in northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Marine Pollution Bulletin 109(1):178-183. DOI link

Wessel, C.C., Swanson, K., Weatherall, T., and Cebrian, J. 2019. Accumulation and distribution of marine debris on barrier islands across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine Pollution Bulletin 139:14-22. DOI link

All The Cups - by Jack

"6 year old Jack narrates a short film about stormwater debris into Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, after a one inch rainfall event. His message, 'please don't throw trash on the ground'."  https://youtu.be/LhlBSOlTYdQ


 

 

 

 

 

(Photo courtesy Corpus Christi Caller-Times, photographer Rachel Denny Clow)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.