Microplastics have been found in a mountain glacier for the first time, in the latest sign of how plastics are leaving no corner of the planet untouched.
The tiny pieces, which measure less than 5 millimetres in length, have shown up in places as . But now聽Roberto Sergio Azzoni at the University of Milan and colleagues have found them on a terrestrial glacier.
Around 75 particles of microplastic per kilogram of sediment were found on the Forni glacier in the Italian Alps. The team looked at 4 kilograms of sediment in total, which if this is representative, could mean there are 162 million plastic particles across the whole glacier.
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Ironically, the plastic seems to be getting to the ice via the hikers and mountaineers who are seeking out the natural beauty of the glacier.
Most of the microplastics found were fibres rather than fragments. Of the total plastic found, 39 per cent was locally-deposited polyesters, another 39 per cent unknown. The rest was polyamide, polypropylene and polyethylene.
Climbing in clogs
The findings imply much of the plastic is coming from outdoorwear made from plastics. Some will also have been blown in by the wind from the nearest towns and cities.
That posed a conundrum for the team, as they did not want to skew the results and contaminate the samples they took by wearing clothes made from plastic materials.
The answer was wearing solely clothes made from cotton, coupled with wooden clogs. 鈥淭hat is not so comfortable,鈥� says Sergio Azzoni.
Glaciers are not as pristine as we think, says Etienne Bertheir, of the Laboratory of Geophysical Studies and Spatial Oceanography in Touloues. 鈥淕laciers are in fact rather dirty. In the Mont Blanc area you find crashed planes, iced bodies [corpses].鈥�
The presence of microplastics on the glacier is not an obvious immediate health threat to people, as melting water from the ice is used for hydropower and not directly for farming. However, the plastic is likely to be dispersed by water into plains lower down.
Microplastics are also expected to persist for a long time in glaciers, because of the climate. There is no obvious solution to stopping more plastic ending up in the glacier, beyond making people more aware of the problem, says聽Sergio Azzoni.
The team presented the work at the European Geosciences Union conference in Vienna, Austria this week.
