Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
WATER AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION, cilt.237, sa.3, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
As the use of plastic raw materials has increased due to their low cost and ability to be easily shaped, the amount of microplastics (MP) derived from their residues has also increased significantly. MPs have started to affect not only our environment but also our health seriously. In the current study, the MP inventory was analyzed in beach sediment obtained from the Menek & scedil;e Beach coast of the inland Sea of Marmara. It is located in Istanbul, the most populous city in T & uuml;rkiye. Nine samples were examined to determine the abundance, color, size, and shape of MPs. To explore the relation between grain size and MP abundance, sediment was first classified based on grain size. A two-step microscopic examination was performed, first using a stereomicroscope and then with a fluorescent microscope. The mean MP abundance (25156 +/- 400 item/kg) detected in the fluorescent microscope was higher than in the stereomicroscope (13891 +/- 600 item/kg). The predominant color of the microplastics was black (31.6%), and the dominant type was fragment (53.0%). The most common size range was small MPs (50-150 mu m), which accounted for 50.8%. There is a significant positive correlation between the MPs' abundance and percentage of fine-grained. This study suggested that Menek & scedil;e Beach was heavily polluted with MPs sourced from wastewater treatment plants, currents, and human-related activities such as fishing, camping, and swimming.