According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), an Australian government agency responsible for scientific research, the world’s sea floor is littered with an estimated 14 million tonnes of sunken microplastics, broken down from the masses of plastic pollution entering the oceans every year and are sinking to the ocean floor. The findings of this study were published in a peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Marine Science in October 2020.
Researchers used a robotic submarine to collect samples from sites up to 3,000 metres (9,850 feet) deep, off the South Australian coast. The quantity of the tiny pollutants was 25 times greater this time as compared to previous localised studies.
Courtesy: The Hindu