Occurrence Characteristics and Ecological Risk Assessment of Microplastics in Different Land Use Types in China
Abstract
Microplastics， as an emerging pollutant， pose significant potential risks to environmental media due to their persistent nature. In this study， 6，008 soil samples were selected from 71 articles published between 2018 and 2024. Data on microplastic abundance， morphological features， and polymer types were collected to investigate the characteristics of microplastic pollution across different land use types in China， the correlations between their properties， and the variations in ecological risks. The results revealed that the order of microplastic abundance was agricultural soils （average abundance： 3 856.834×103 items·kg-1） > unused lands （1 002.34×103 items·kg-1） > construction lands （461.21×103 items·kg-1）. The most prevalent microplastic shapes in Chinese soils were fragments， fibers， and films， with sizes predominantly concentrated in small particles （0-0.5 mm）. Transparent， black， and white were the most frequent colors observed， while polypropylene （PP） and polyethylene （PE） emerged as the dominant polymer types. Moderate correlations were found between microplastic abundance and color/shape in agricultural soils， whereas strong correlations existed between abundance and polymer types in construction land soils. Soil microplastic pollution in China arises from the combined effects of multiple factors， including economic development， the tertiary sector， agricultural practices， and human activities. Studies have shown that agricultural lands exhibit the highest…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Green Chemistry: A Framework for a Sustainable Future
- Nano/micro-plastic, an invisible threat getting into the brain
- Emerging contaminants antibiotic resistance genes and microplastics in the environment: Introduction to 21 review articles published in CREST during 2018–2022
- Water Resources and Sustainable Development
- Nano- and microplastics in the workplace
- Water Enclosure and World-Literature: New Perspectives on Hydro-Power and World-Ecology
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.