Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41098482›Full record

ArticleACS ES&T water2025

Fractionation of Anthropogenic Particles (Microplastics and Microfibers) along a 2200 km Transect of Canadian Sediments.

Samantha N Athey, Jennifer K Adams, Liisa M Jantunen, Paul A Helm, Gary Stern, Sarah A Finkelstein, Miriam L Diamond

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in ACS ES&T water, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Samantha N AtheyDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.
Jennifer K AdamsDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.
Liisa M JantunenAir Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Egbert, Ontario L0L 1N0, Canada.
Paul A HelmOntario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7462-4217
Gary SternUniversity of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada.
Sarah A FinkelsteinDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.
Miriam L DiamondDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6296-6431

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Our research suggests that anthropogenic particles (AP), a suite of contaminant particles that originate from human activities including microplastics and microfibers, can undergo geographic fractionation during long-range transport from populated source regions to remote receptor regions. Assemblages of microplastics, microfibers, and other AP (>125 μm) in surficial sediments spanning a 2200 km transect had the most diverse shapes, colors, and polymer types in populated source regions, as illustrated by the Greater Toronto Area and Laurentian Great Lakes, and were least diverse in remote Hudson Bay and Arctic Ocean samples. We hypothesize that differences in diversity are due to a fractionation process where transport from source regions is controlled predictably by differential AP mobility. Specifically, microfibers consisting of anthropogenic cellulose and polyester were found to accumulate in the remote regions of the Arctic, indicating their mobility, which enables long-range transport, consistent with their higher buoyancy in air and water. Conversely, nonfibrous particles (i.e., fragments, films, foams) settled closer to sources, consistent with lower mobility due to faster settling velocities and the likelihood of fragmentation. As with other contaminants, control measures to mitigate and reduce AP discharges in populated urbanized regions will mitigate AP contamination in the Arctic and other remote areas, particularly for the most highly mobile microfibers.

Indexed as

anthropogenic particlesArcticfractionationGreat Lakeslong-range transportmicroplastic diversitymicroplasticsplasticsediment

Identifiers

PMID41098482
PMCPMC12519485

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.