Most of the ocean plastic waste is missing: Experts: It may fall on the seabed
China News network, April 13, according to the "Central News Agency" reported on the 13th, human beings every year millions of tons of plastic waste into the world's oceans, but only a small part of the sea remains, the mystery of the remaining garbage place has been puzzling scientists for many years. Now, a study found that a large number of plastic waste eventually fell to the sea bed.
Between 4 million and 12 million tons of plastic waste are reported to enter the oceans each year, with only 250,000 tons thought to remain on the surface. Affected by erosion, ultraviolet light and microbial destruction, plastic waste breaks down, changes density and drifts around on ocean currents. Once it sinks deeper into the ocean, it's harder for experts to track. "Because [plastic waste] goes through so many processes that play a role, it's hard to determine where it ends up," said Mottford, a researcher at Newcastle University's School of Natural and environmental Sciences in the United Kingdom. "Even plastic on the surface of the ocean can sink and then float back up. That means it can move in different parts of the ocean at any time in between possible ups and downs."In his study, Motford used computer models to simulate how three different densities of plastic waste would float in ocean currents to predict where much of the world's plastic waste would start to sink and accumulate.
The models show significant accumulation of plastic waste in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and in waters thousands of meters deep off Southeast Asia.
The study suggests that large amounts of plastic waste end up on the seabed, echoing another study earlier this year in which experts found microplastic particles in the guts of shrimp in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known ocean trench on Earth. While Mottford stressed that the study was preliminary, the findings could help focus investigations into areas of the ocean where plastic debris is identified, and further research into the damage plastic is doing to Marine life.