5:15 PM - 6:45 PM
[M-IS17] Ocean Plastics, an earth science perspective
Mismanaged plastic wastes accounting for 70% of marine debris remain persistently in the marine environment, even if they are degraded and fragmentized to tiny microplastics. To date, it has been unknown how this anthropogenic, buoyant, and persistent matter which was first appeared in the earth history, contaminates (or is incorporated into) the earth system. The ocean plastic study requires the insight and methodology of a variety of earth sciences such as the oceanography, geology, and palaeontology. Studies on the plastic circulation loaded from the land/atmosphere to upper oceans and bottom sediments, studies on microplastics as a proxy of the Anthropocene, and studies to establish procedures in monitoring and analyzing macro/microplastics are welcomed.