Fragmentation of Large Particles (IMAGE)
Caption
How plastic sinks to the deep sea — over time, sunlight and waves break large plastic items into tiny fragments that stick to marine snow. These particles gradually sink through the ocean, carrying microplastics from the surface to the seafloor.
Credit
Wu N, Grieve S, Manning A, Spencer K. 2025 Coupling fragmentation to a size-selective sedimentation model can quantify the long-term fate of buoyant plastics in the ocean. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 383: 20240445. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2024.0445
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No restrictions – image may be used freely with credit.
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Original content