ArticleScience advances2024
Downward migrating microplastics in lake sediments are a tricky indicator for the onset of the Anthropocene.
Article in Science advances, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- In Vivo Microplastic Detection With Photoacoustic Imaging.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- The plastisphere: not a unique biofilm but a unifying concept for the interdisciplinary plastic biofilm research community.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Article
- Microplastic contamination in the pristine waters of Tilicho Lake, Nepal: A groundbreaking study in the high-altitude himalayas.iScience · 2026Article
- Microplastics in the Baltic Sea region lakes-standardized insights reveal urban shoreline as key driver.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025Article
- Are northern communities an overlooked source of microplastics and tire wear particles in the Arctic?PeerJ · 2025Article
- Diving into the Depths: Uncovering Microplastics in Norwegian Coastal Sediment Cores.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Reframing the role of communication in consensual and/or ethical (non)monogamies: A proposal for a change in academic terminology.Open research Europe · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plastics are a recent particulate material in Earth's history. Because of plastics persistence and wide-range presence, it has a great potential of being a global age marker and correlation tool between sedimentary profiles. In this research, we query whether microplastics can be considered among the array of proxies to delimit the Anthropocene Epoch (starting from the year 1950 and above). We present a study of microplastics deposition history inferred from sediment profiles of lakes in northeastern Europe. The sediments were dated with independent proxies from the present back to the first half of the 18th century. Regardless of the sediment layer age, microplastic particles were found throughout the cores in all sites. Depending on particles' aspect ratio, less elongated particles were found deeper, while more elongated particles and fibers have reduced mobility. We conclude that interpretation of microplastics distribution in the studied sediment profiles is ambiguous and does not strictly indicate the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch.
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Registered trials
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