Marine anthropogenic pollution is increasingly recognized as a serious issue of global concern with substantial risks for marine ecosystems, fisheries, and food supply to people. Plastic and chemical contaminants are spread on a planetary scale, and may have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems. Yet, they remain poorly studied and much is yet to learn about how plastic and chemical contamination impacts marine nutrient cycles and the lower food chain.

In this session, we invite contributions from experimentalists and modellers trying to understand the impacts of plastics as well as chemical contaminants on the biogeochemistry of the oceans. The objective of this session is to share the current research on how the multiple sources of anthropogenic pollution impact marine biogeochemical cycles, such as pollutant leaching from plastics, plastic ingestion by marine animals, and direct contamination of the water by contaminated rivers, aerosols, or submarine groundwater. The session would welcome all techniques, including direct measurements of contaminant fluxes, isotopic or other approaches to tracing contamination, modelling, experimental incubations with contaminants, mesocosm studies and toxicity assessments. We particularly encourage contributions regarding the quantification of sources and fluxes of contaminants to the marine environment, and the effects of this contamination (toxicity from chemical contaminants such as heavy metals or PCBs, effects of plastic ingestion on zooplankton…).