UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE BAJA CALIFORNIA Chemical Sciences and Engineering Department

MICROPLASTICS IN BEACHES OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA

TERESITA DE JESUS PIÑON COLIN FERNANDO WAKIDA KUSUNOKI

Sixth International Marine Debris Conference SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES 7 DE MARZO DEL 2018

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION

 INTRODUCTION

 METHODOLOGY

 RESULTS

 CONCLUSIONS

OBJECTIVE. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and distribution of microplastics in sandy beaches located in the Baja California peninsula.

STUDY AREA

1200 km long and around 3000 km of seashore METHODOLOGY

SAMPLED BEACHES IN THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA

• . • 21 sampling sites.

• 12 sites located in the Pacific ocean coast. • 9 sites located the Gulf of California coast. • 9 sites classified as urban beaches (U).

• 12 sites classified as rural beaches (R).

SAMPLING

EXTRACTION METHOD BY DENSITY. RESULTS

Bahía de los Angeles. MICROPLASTICS ABUNDANCE

(R) rural.

(U) urban. COMPARISON WITH OTHER PUBLISHED STUDIES

Area CONCENTRATIÓN UNIT REFERENCE West coast USA 39-140 (85) Partícles kg-1 Whitmire et al. (2017) (National Parks) United Kigdom 86 Partícles kg-1 Thompson et al. (2004)

Mediterranean Sea 76 – 1512 (291) Partícles kg-1 Lots et al. (2017)

North Sea 88-164 (190) Particles Kg-1 Lots et al. (2017)

Baja California

Ocean Pacific 37-312 (179) Particles kg-1 This study

Gulf of 16-230 (76) Particles kg-1 This study California MORPHOLOGY OF MICROPLASTICS FOUND 2% 3% 4%

91% Fibres Granules spheres films Fiber color percentages blue Purple black Red green 7% 2%

25% 7%

59% Examples of shapes and colors of the microplastics found

PINK FILM CABO SAN LUCAS BEACH POSIBLE POLYAMIDE NYLON TYPE

Polyamide nylon type reference (Browne et al., 2011). REFERENCE TABLE FOR PINK FILM CABO SAN LUCAS BEACH POSIBLE POLYAMIDE

Functional group Reference wave number for Wave number of the pink film (cm-1). polyamide nylon type (cm-1).

O-H, humidity of the sample 3750-3300 3853

N-H stretch 3500-3000 3612 N-H flexion 1640-1550 1524 N-H flexion out of the plane 600-700 668

CH stretch 3000-2850 2928 y 2860

CH2 in the plane 1470-1465 1469 C=O amide 1690-1630 1640

C-N stretch 1200-1000 1030

CO2 2380 2356

POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET) FOR THE BLUE PLASTIC PIECE

Referencia de poliéster (Browne et al, 2011). REFERENCE TABLE FOR POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET) FOR THE BLUE PLASTIC PIECE Functional group or bond Reference wave number (cm-1) for polyethylene Wave number of the blue terephthalate (PET).. microplastic(cm-1)

-CH2-assymetric and symetric 3000-2850 2966 =C-H aromatic stretch 3150-3050 3100 señal débil

C=O ester 1750-1705 1715 C=C aromatic ring 1600 y 1475 1512 y 1460 C=C aromatic ester 1615, 1580 y 1505 C-H assymetric in the plane, symetric in the 1471, 1409 y 1340 1405 y 1339 plane C-C(O)-O 1260-1250 1248 -O-C- 1130-1120 1097 1100-1090 C-H aromatic ring in the plane 1016 y 970 974

C-H aromatic ring out of the plane 900-690 864

C-H rock aromatic ring 720 719

CO2 2380 2356 POSIBLE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MICROPLASTIC FOUND IN BEACHES. Shape and color Posible polymer Fiber Transparent fiber Polyetilene

Granule White granule Poliacrílic

Fibers, spheres, Black and purple fibers. Polyacrilamide. granules and films Yellow, blue, transparent, purple, black and green films Yellow, white and transparent spheres

Yellow, red, green and pink granules

Granules Blue granule Polyamide nylon type. films Pink film

Fibers and granules. Red, blue and green fibers Aromatic polyester, tereftalato de Black granules. polyetilene CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS 1. The average of microplastics on the beaches of the Baja California peninsula was 135±92 particles per kg d.w.

2. The average of microplastics on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean (179 ±50 particles per kg d.w.) was more than two fold than those found in the Gulf of California sites (76 ±12 particles per kg d.w.). CONCLUSIONES 3. Ninety one percent of the microplastics identified were fibers, which implies that wastewater is the most important source of microplastics in sampled beaches.

4. The microplastics analyzed were identified as polyacrylamide, nylon type polyamides polyacrylic and polyethylene terephthalate.