Investigating abundance and characteristics of microplastics as emerging pollutants in sediments of Taleqan Dam and upstream river in Alborz Province

Microplastics (MPs) pollution are considered as a major growing global environmental problem in the past few decades. Dams could be an important reservoir for microplastics accumulation, therefore, in this study the presence of microplastics in sediments of Taleqan Dam and its upstream river was investigated in order to: 1) determine the local status of microplastic pollution and 2) determine the abundance and characteristics of the identified microplastics.

Sediment sampling was performed at 15 stations in the upstream of the river and the dam reservoir. After the sample preparation, separation method based on density difference was used for separation of the microplastics from the sediment, and stereo microscope and SEM-EDX were used for counting microplastics and investigation of their characteristics.

Based on the results, maximum of the counted microplastic particles were observed in Taleqan City area with 2050 particles/300 g and minimum number was observed in the dam reservoir with 478 particles/300 g of sediment. The dominant shape, color, and size of the counted particles were polyhedral, colorless (transparent), and 100-250 μm, respectively.

The results showed that the concentration of microplastics in the stations near the urban and rural areas were higher due to the entry of sewage and the release of municipal solid wastes. Also, their concentrations were high in the stations close to the dock area of the dam due to the greater traffic of the locals and tourists and dumping of wastes in the shoreline of the lake.