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Scientists have discovered that between 3 and 11 million tons of plastic have accumulated at the bottom of the seas and oceans, which is 100 times more than on the surface. The discovery, made by CSIRO and the University of Toronto, is the first quantitative study of large plastic waste (nets, bottles, bags) that settles on the ocean floor, where it gradually breaks down into microplastics that pose a threat to marine animals and plants. Ferra.ru reports this with reference to Science Daily.
CSIRO's Denise Hardesty highlights the urgency of the problem: millions of tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year, with consumption predicted to double by 2040.
The researchers built predictive models using data obtained from deep-sea instruments. ROV data showed that plastic is concentrated around continents, with almost half of it at depths of more than 200 meters. The rest of the plastic sinks to depths of up to 11 000 meters.
Interestingly, inland and coastal seas, despite being smaller in area, are predicted to contain similar volumes of plastic as the vast open ocean floor.