High degree of pollution in the depth of the sea

2017/02/16 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

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In two Pacific graves, about 10,000 meters deep, high levels of pollution have been found. One of the most polluted industrial areas in the northwest of the Pacific, Suruga Bay (Japan), has measured an equivalent pollution in its crustaceans. The results have been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The researchers have studied the crustaceans of the Northern Pacific Mariana Trench and the South Pacific Kermadec Trench and have found that being away from industrial areas and so deeply does not exempt them from pollution. In fact, these crustaceans have been found at very high levels of persistent organic pollutants such as the PCBs used formerly in electrical appliances and the PBDEs used in plastics to increase fire resistance, etc. Researchers believe that these substances would reach the depth of the sea through the carrion and the plastics that sink. Precisely, the Mariana fossa is located at the foot of the huge plastic island located north of the Pacific.

? A sea of plastic