every year in the oceans gets more than 10 million tons of plastic waste. We only see 1% of this debris that floats on the water surface. What happens to the other 99%, are not fully understood.
part of the plastic is broken into tiny pieces smaller than 5mm, known as microplastics.
a New study by British oceanographers in the Tyrrhenian sea off the West coast of Italy showed that a powerful deep-sea currents pick up these particles and accumulate them on the seabed in astounding numbers. Most micro-plastic accumulates in deep-sea canyons.
In a layer thickness of 5 cm and area of 1 square meter scientists have discovered more than 1.9 million pieces of micro-plastic. This is the highest rate of registered, says the study, published in Science.
Anna Lysenko
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