By studying geological layers from 1834 onwards every year along the coast of California. Scientists have found that plastics in geological layers accurately reflect the exponential growth trend of plastic production over the past 70 years. Most plastic particles are fibers that come from artificial fabrics used in clothing

Researchers said: "Our "love" for plastics remains in our fossil record. This is not good for organisms living on the seabed, such as coral reefs, mussels and oysters. But the fact that it is entering our fossil record is more of an existential question"

It is reported that millions of tons of plastic are discarded into the environment every year and broken down into small particles and fibers that cannot be biodegraded. Microplastics have been found in the air from the deepest oceans to high mountains and even in the Arctic

Foreign media said that studies have found that plastic pollution is being stored in the fossil record. Plastic pollution has increased exponentially since 1945. According to a recent report on the British "Guardian" website, scientists believe that these plastic layers can be used to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene. In this newly proposed geological era, human activities began to dominate the earth. They say that after the Bronze and Iron Ages, the current period may be called the Plastic Age.

Plastic pollution is everywhere

¡°Our generation will be remembered as the age of plastic¡±

The study is the first detailed analysis of the increase in plastic pollution in sediments. It looked at geological layers from each year since 1834 along the California coast. They found that the plastic in the layers accurately reflected the exponential growth in plastic production over the past 70 years.

Most of the plastic particles were fibers, from man-made fabrics used in clothing. This suggests that plastic is flowing freely into the ocean through wastewater.

"Our love affair with plastic is leaving its mark in our fossil record," said Jennifer Brandon of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study. "It's not good for organisms that live on the seafloor, like coral reefs, mussels and oysters. But the fact that it's entering our fossil record is more of an existential question."

"At school, we all learn about the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age - is this going to be called the Plastic Age? That's a scary thing, our generation will be remembered as the Plastic Age," she said.

David Attenborough's Blue Planet II television series has heightened awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans. In July, he said attitudes were changing.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, found that the amount of microplastics in sediments has doubled about every 15 years since the 1940s. In 2010, the most recent year analysed, levels of plastic pollution reached nearly 40 particles per square decimeter of the seafloor.

Two-thirds of the particles were plastic fibers, one-fifth were other plastic fragments, and one-tenth were plastic films. "That's a very clear signature," Brandon said. "Plastic was invented by humans, and we're going to see it show up in the sediment record very soon."

The pollution data is staggering

100 million tons of plastic have been dumped into the world's oceans so far

A 2016 study showed that a single wash of clothing can release 700,000 microplastic fibers. "They're definitely not being handled properly," Brandon said. "We're not filtering them properly at the household or waste treatment plant level. I think that's the next big frontier: what are we doing with our wastewater, what are we processing into clothing, because obviously (plastic) is going straight into the ocean?"

Millions of tons of plastic are reportedly discarded into the environment every year, breaking down into small particles and fibers that cannot biodegrade. Microplastics have been found in the air from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, and even in the Arctic, showing that pollution is everywhere on Earth. The United Nations estimates that 100 million tons of plastic have been dumped into the world's oceans to date.

Research is limited, but it is known that eating plastic can harm marine life. Humans are believed to ingest at least 50,000 microplastics each year through food and water. The health effects are unclear, but microplastics can release toxic substances and may penetrate tissue.

The latest study analyzed a sediment core collected off the coast of Santa Barbara, close to the 4 million people who live in Los Angeles. The basin is naturally devoid of oxygen, meaning no animals would burrow into the sediment and damage the delicate layers.

The 36-centimeter-long core was originally used to assess fish populations. It was encased in a plastic liner, but scientists used laser technology to identify this particular type of plastic and eliminate small amounts of contaminants in their analysis.

The core was collected in 2010, but Brandon said there was no reason to think the exponential growth of plastic pollution had been curbed since then because plastic production has continued to increase. She said: "I hope our research shows that this is a very serious problem."

More news

More than 480 billion plastic bottles were sold worldwide last year

According to a recent report on the Spanish newspaper ABC, according to data from the British consulting company Euromonitor International, more than 480 billion plastic bottles were sold worldwide last year. In other words, nearly 1 million plastic bottles were sold every minute.

The report said that plastic is one of the main problems that accelerate climate change. According to the World Wildlife Fund, in the Mediterranean, the concentration of microplastics is 1.25 million per square kilometer.

Similarly, the number of plastic bottles sold worldwide can be calculated by comparing the iconic buildings of multiple cities. The plastic bottles sold worldwide in a year can build a building taller than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is more than 800 meters high.

(This group of articles is a comprehensive reference news and Xinhua News Agency)

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