Microplastic contaminants in the sediment of the north coasts of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman

Abundances and characteristics of microplastics were studied in the coastal area of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Microplastics ranged from 10 to 45 particles per kilogram of sediment. Microplastics were in the size category of 100 µm to 2000 µm. The average concentration of microplastics in selected stations was 655 pieces/kg. In most of the transects, a negative slope of MPs was observed from coastal waters to deeper waters. Black fibers constituted 65.42% of the fibers and high-density polymers were dominant. Also, the type of polymers was identified using Raman analysis and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon and polystyrene (PS) were the three main types of microplastic polymers in coastal surface sediments. In general, the findings reiterated the widespread presence of microplastics. In this study, the spatial outliers and the main deposition locations of microplastics were identified, and as a result, the places where future studies should be focused were determined.