Plastic On The Ocean Floor

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

Plastic on the ocean floor.

There may be extra plastic embedded within the sea flooring 9 25 million to 15 87 million tons than floating on the ocean s floor researchers in australia have discovered in what a scientist referred to as the world s first estimate. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. The new research published in the journal royal society open science adds new details to earlier research that only discovered plastic bits in sea floor sediment in 2014.

But it fleshes out the. In your home your office your school and your ocean. The harmful plastic debris has been pulled down by powerful deep sea currents that create microplastic hotspots a deep sea equivalent of so called garbage patches created by currents on the ocean. Plastic ends up on the ocean floor according to a new research report most plastic fragments end up on the ocean floor.

The new study printed on monday by the commonwealth scientific and industrial analysis group or c s i r o in. The norwegian environment agency is calling for several measures to combat the problem of plastics in the oceans. There is more plastic embedded in the sea floor 9 25 million to 15 87 million tons than floating on the ocean s surface researchers in australia have found in what a scientist called the. The accumulation of floating plastic accounts for less than 1 of the 10 million tons of plastic that enter the world s oceans each year according to research spearheaded by the university of.