The team from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (AUB) and Aalborg University said the increase corresponds with the type and volume of consumption of plastic products by society over that time.
The study is the first high-resolution reconstruction of microplastic pollution from sediments obtained in the north-western Mediterranean Sea.
Despite the seafloor generally being the final sink for microplastics floating on the sea surface, the level of build-up and the sequestration and burial rate of smaller microplastics on the ocean floor is unknown.
It was found that microplastics are retained unaltered in marine sediments, and that the microplastic mass in the seafloor mimics the global plastic production from 1965 to 2016.
“Specifically, the results show that, since 2000, the amount of plastic particles deposited on the seafloor has tripled and that, far from decreasing, the accumulation has not stopped growing mimicking the production and global...