'These deposited microplastics can potentially be preserved for hundreds of years,' said a researcher.
Microplastics have made their way into nearly every environment on Earth and have been detected inside thousands of animals around the world.Now, according to a paper in the journal Science of the Total Environment, microplastics have even been discovered hidden inside the mineral skeletons of corals.This could explain the so-called missing plastic problem, which describes how around 70 percent of plastic pollution known to have entered the ocean is apparently nowhere to be seen.
'We put our samples through a series of simple chemical washes designed to break apart each anatomical layer. After each subsequent layer was dissolved, we would filter out the content and then work on the next layer,' Jandang said.The researchers discovered 174 microplastic particles across the samples, most of which were about as thick as a human hair.
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