Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025

Presentation information

[E] Poster

H (Human Geosciences ) » H-CG Complex & General

[H-CG19] Microplastics & Micro-pollutants in the Environment - The 3Ts

Wed. May 28, 2025 5:15 PM - 7:15 PM Poster Hall (Exhibition Hall 7&8, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Christopher A Gomez(Kobe University Faculty of Maritime Sciences Volcanic Risk at Sea Research Group), King-Fai Li(University of California Riverside), Lin Tan(University of California, Riverside), Candide Lissak(Universite de Rennes )

5:15 PM - 7:15 PM

[HCG19-P02] Polystyrene pollution on the shores of Southern Hokkaido (Japan) - Deposition among storms bio-debris

*Christopher A Gomez1 (1.Kobe University Faculty of Maritime Sciences SABO Laboratory)

Keywords:polystyrene, coastal microplastic, coastal pollution, Hokkaido

The southern shore of Hokkaido made of volcanic black sand is facing a sea rich for its fishery industry and it is as well as being an important transit route between Hokkaido and Honshu. Because of its use in the maritime and fishery industry polystyrene pollution is thus of prime interest, and the present contribution aims to investigate the amount of polystyrene debris per volume of bio-debris < 10 cm and whether the polystyrene holds evidence of its transport process among the other debris.
The methodology is based on field sampling of the beaches in the bay opening between Tomakomai and Hidaka, polystyrene extraction from the shore sediments and their analysis using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope).