Abstract
Microplastics pollution in the global marine environment has received much recent research attention. However, microplastics contamination of the freshwater environment has not been fully studied, especially with respect to the surface sediments of urban water areas in China. This study investigated surface sediment samples from twelve selected sites in Changsha, China. The average microplastic concentrations in the surface sediments of the urban water areas ranged from 270.17 ± 48.23 items·kg−1 to 866.59 ± 37.96 items·kg−1, and the highest concentration of microplastics was found in Yuejin Lake sediments. Most of the collected microplastics were transparent, and most were classified as fragments. Most microplastics (58.31%) were smaller than 1 mm across all samples. Raman analysis indicated that polystyrene dominated the sediments samples. This study provided framework for future studies of microplastics pollution in the surface sediment of urban water areas in China.
•Microplastics were detected from surface sediment samples of urban water areas including rivers and lakes in Changsha, China.•Polystyrene (PS) was dominant type in the composition of microplastics.•Fragment, transparent is the major shape, color of microplastics in the observed sediments samples.•The percentage of microplastics that size < 1 mm is achieved to 58.31%.•The P value indicates there is no significant correlation between microplastic abundance and the sampling sites distance to the urban center.