1,6- 1Paul sabatier, CNRS, Chemistry, Toulouse, France (alexandra.ter-halle@cnrs.fr)
- 2Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, 31400 Toulouse, France
- 3Chemical and Environmental Engineering Group. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/ Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
- 4ONG Expédition 7ème Continent, Sète
- 5MIO, Université de Toulon, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Toulon, France
- 6CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Microbienne (LOMIC), UMR 7621, Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls, Banyuls sur mer, France
The majority of our knowledge about plastic pollution is based on microplastics, defined as particles measuring between 500 µm and 5 mm. Due to technical limitations, our understanding of nanoplastics (smaller than 1 µm) remains limited. Nonetheless, it is widely accepted that nanoplastics are more abundant, more widely dispersed, and pose a potentially greater risk to ecosystems and human health than microplastics1. Nanoplastics also differ from microplastics in terms of transport mechanisms, reactivity with other particles, interaction with light, and bioavailability.
Given these distinctions, since 2021, we have conducted several field campaigns to quantify nanoplastics in the Mediterranean Sea, using the research vessel Expedition 7th Continent. A rigorous methodology was developed, encompassing sampling, isolation, and quantification via Py-GC-MS/MS, to ensure highly reliable results2, 3. Particular attention was paid to quality control, which is a critical concern in nanoplastic analysis.
We detected nanoplastic concentrations in the Mediterranean in the µg/L range. These high concentrations are notable and likely result from the fact that the semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea serves as the ultimate sink for plastic pollution originating from coastal countries, where plastic waste degrades into nanoplastics. The presentation of these data will also address their impact on current ecological risk assessment thresholds for plastics in marine environments.
References cited :
- Mitrano, D. M.; Wick, P.; Nowack, B., Placing nanoplastics in the context of global plastic pollution. Nat Nanotechnol 2021, 16, (5), 491-500.
- Albignac, M.; de Oliveira, T.; Landebrit, L.; Miquel, S.; Auguin, B.; Leroy, E.; Maria, E.; Mingotaud, A. F.; ter Halle, A., Tandem mass spectrometry enhances the performances of pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for microplastic quantification. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 2023, 172, 105993.
- Albignac, M.; Maria, E.; De Oliveira, T.; Roux, C.; Goudouneche, D.; Mingotaud, A. F.; Bordeau, G.; ter Halle, A., Assessment of nanoplastic extraction from natural samples for quantification purposes. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 2023, 20, 100862.
How to cite: Ter Halle, A., Albignac, M., Arnould, M., Alvarez, C., Deixonne, P., Ourmières, Y., and Ghiglione, J. F.: Prevalence of Nanoplastics in the Mediterranean Sea: A Growing Environmental Concern, One Ocean Science Congress 2025, Nice, France, 3–6 Jun 2025, OOS2025-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/oos2025-37, 2025.
