Plastic particle characterization and concentrations found in the river and marine water environment of Algoa Bay, South Africa
- Authors: Moss, Kerry-Leigh
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/53874 , vital:46025
- Description: Only 12% of the world's published plastic research includes references to Africa despite it being a significant contributor to the global plastic waste and mismanagement problem (~88.5% of Africa's plastic waste is mismanaged). Ocean plastics are transported from land by rivers to the sea. However, source contextualization is complex. Many African rivers predominantly run alongside human settlements that host informal waste dumpsites. In this study a simple cost effective, easily deployed, consistent and replicable survey methodology was employed. The study quantified macro plastic in three rivers discharging into Algoa Bay, South Africa. The results indicated that industrial Swartkops and metropolitan Baakens Rivers both illustrate moderate plastic pollution (>3000 plastic particles/day), with the relatively natural Sundays River to showing minimal evidence of river macroplastic (<100 plastic particles/day). The types of plastic were noted using the RIMMEL app (premier African implementation), enabling proportional comparison of different plastic litter types to be completed. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Oceanography Department,2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-12
Plastic particle characterization and concentrations found in the river and marine water environment of Algoa Bay, South Africa
- Authors: Moss, Kerry-Leigh
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Marine pollution , Plastic marine debris --Environmental aspects , Algoa Bay -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55645 , vital:53403
- Description: With just 4% of published plastic pollution research, the African region remains one of the most poorly 221 understood areas, leaving a large knowledge gap in our understanding of this global pollution problem 222 (Hurley, Woodward, & Rothwell, 2018). It is estimated that 64 to 90% of the ocean’s plastics originate 223 from fluxes in the terrestrial environment, however determining the exact source is not a simple task 224 (Andrady, 2011; Hurley et al., 2018). Plastic items, including the biodegradable plastic items, 225 breakdown in the marine environment through mechanical action resulting in non-degradable 226 microscopic fragments of synthetic polymers (Thompson et al., 2004). However, the consequences of 227 these microplastic fragments.This research intends to address two aims; first, to provide an estimation of the quantity of plastic 235 transportation via African rivers to the greater body of knowledge of global plastic emissions. This aim 236 will specifically focus on determining plastic output via Port Elizabeth rivers into the Algoa Bay marine 237 environment. The second aim of this research is to quantify and characterize the amount of microplastic 238 in the marine environment of Algoa Bay. The second aim will focus on identifying microplastic (MP) 239 throughout the water column. 240 This research consists of six objectives; first, to identify, design and field test a cost-effective system for 241 monitoring macroplastic quantity output from riverine to marine environments. Second, to contribute to 242 the body of knowledge of African river plastic pollution through quantification and characterisation of 243 macroplastics in the Port Elizabeth rivers. Third, to compare three very different rivers with different 244 levels of urbanisation (industrial, urban, and remote) to ascertain the impact of population and 245 government pollution management protocols on plastic emissions. Fourth, to measure microplastic 246 quantities at three depths from eight locations across the marine environment of Algoa Bay. Fifth, quantitatively characterize the microplastics in Algoa Bay to highlight any patterns of distribution. Sixth, 248 to compare the Algoa Bay concentrations with published international marine microplastic findings. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Ocean Science, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-12