Microplastics as a chronostratigraphic indicator in the sediments of the Urft reservoir

微塑料作为 Urft 水库沉积物中的年代地层指标

• 批准号: 496558992
• 负责人: Privatdozent Dr. Georg Stauch
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Geographie und Geologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2020-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/496558992?language=en
• 关键词: Microplastics; chronostratigraphic; indicator; sediments; Urft

Fluvial systems in Central Europe, but also worldwide, have been subject to rapid change in recent decades to centuries. Changes in land use but also climatic changes have led to drastic alterations in the sediment balance and runoff patterns. However, for the identification and quantification of geomorphological changes in recent decades, suitable geochronological markers are essential. These markers are important either to quantify changes in the spatial and the temporal domain but also to disentangle natural and anthropogenic geomorphological processes. In this context, the occurrence of plastics or microplastics in sediments has been intensively discussed for several years. Microplastics are purely anthropogenic and have been used on a massive scale worldwide since about 1950. However, so far there are only a few studies that consistently applied this concept. Therefore, this project investigates the extent to which microplastics can be used as chronostratigraphic markers in fluvial sediments.The sediments of the Urft reservoir offer an excellent opportunity to test microplastics as a chronostratigraphic marker. The Urft dam was built in 1905. The resulting lake has a length of 12 km and a maximum volume of 45.5 million km³. In November 2020, it was almost completely drained for maintenance work. In cooperation with the Eifel-Rur Water Board, the reservoir sediments were intensively sampled. The detailed spatial recording of the sediment body was carried out by means of drone survey. A total of 10 cores with a length of up to 4 m were obtained. For one of the cores, a chronology of the sediments was established based on caesium-137. The first occurrence of caesium-137, which marks the beginning of worldwide nuclear weapons testing from 1952, is found at a depth of 240 cm. This makes it possible to determine the lower limit of microplastics in the sediments over several cores and to classify them precisely in time.In a further step, the different polymers are examined in more detail. Since different types of polymers were developed at various times, they were also introduced into the environment at different times. The investigations at the Urft will now show whether differences in the time of entry are reflected in the sediments and whether plastic can thus also be used for precise dating after the year 1950.The aim of the project is to record microplastics in the sediments of the Urft reservoir in detail, both spatially and temporally, and thus to provide new impulses for the use of plastics as an independent dating method in geomorphological-sedimentological research.

近几十几个世纪以来，中欧的河流系统，但也在全球范围内迅速变化。土地使用的变化，但民事变化导致沉积物平衡和径流模式发生了巨大变化。但是，对于近几十年来的地貌变化的鉴定和量化，合适的年代学标记是必不可少的。这些标记对于量化空间和临时结构域的变化很重要，但也要解散自然和人为的地貌过程。在这种情况下，已经对沉积物中的塑料或微塑料的发生进行了多年的深入讨论。自1950年左右以来，微型塑料纯粹是人为的，并且已在全球范围内大规模使用。但是，到目前为止，只有少数研究始终如一地应用这一概念。因此，该项目调查了河流沉积物中微型塑料可以用作年度地层学标记的程度。乌尔夫特储层的沉积物为测试微塑料作为年度地层学标记提供了极好的机会。 Urft大坝建于1905年。由此产生的湖泊的长度为12公里，最大体积为4550万kmm。在2020年11月，它几乎完全排干于维护工作。与Eifel-RUR水板合作，对储层沉积物进行了深入采样。通过无人机调查进行了详细的空间记录。总共获得了10个核，最多可获得4 m的长度。对于其中一个核心，基于Caesium-137建立了沉积物的年表。 Caesium-137的首次出现标志着从1952年开始的全球核武器测试开始，其深度为240厘米。这使得可以在几个核心上确定沉积物中微塑料的下限，并准确地及时对其进行分类。在进一步的一步中，更详细地检查了不同的聚合物。由于在不同时间开发了不同类型的聚合物，因此在不同时间也将它们引入环境中。现在，URFT的调查将显示进入沉积物中的差异是否反映在1950年之后的塑料中以及是否也可以用于精确约会。该项目的目的是记录乌尔夫特（Urft）居住者沉积物中的微塑料，并在空间和暂时进行详细的详细和暂时的研究，从而提供了新的冲动，以便进行新的冲动方法，以进行独立的分析方法。