MICROPLASTIC DISTRIBUTION IN WATER AND SEDIMENT IN
KOLLIDAM ESTUARY, TAMILNADU, INDIA
Project Pre-Review Report
By
PRADAP . K
M.Sc., (Geology Final year Integrated)
Under the Guidance of
Dr. S. R. SINGARASUBRAMANIAN, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D.,
Professor
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
ANNAMALAI NAGARAR - 608 002
NOVEMBER- 2023
INTRODUCTION
Civilization and human development are always associated with the river banks and coastal ecosystems
due to basic needs such as water and life promoting and protecting resources.
The terrestrial resources are becoming gradually destroyed which are not capable to assist human needs.
Hence, the aquatic resources are supporting for the survival of mankind. Coastal zone has different
biotopes as beaches, estuaries, mangroves, lagoons and coral reefs which are gifted with wonderful beauty
and high productivity to living organisms.
More than 90% of the human needs are acquired from beaches, estuaries, mangroves, lagoons and coral
reefs and it represents only 10% of the open ocean ecosystem.
Estuaries occupied only 0.5% of global marine areas and it produced 2.6% of marine resources in the
world.
It is contributing 5.9% of fishes to the world
MICROPLASTICS
The larger plastic materials present in the maritime environment are subject to various natural abiotic processes such as water
currents, waves, wind, UV and solar radiation, current dynamics, abrasion with vessels as well as activity of microbes and other
organisms (Lambert and Wagner, 2018; Klein et al., 2018).
The various natural processes acting on larger plastics cause gradual degradation into microscopic particles called as microplastics
(Frias and Nash, 2019).
The term “microplastics” was initially coined by Thompson et al., (2004) to describe micro sized plastic particles in sediments and
water.
These microplastics undergo changes in the marine environment due to UV and temperature which makes them low molecular
weight particles (Andrady, 2011; UNEP, 2018).
Marine fisheries, aquaculture and tourism are the most affected sectors owing to microplastics pollution in the maritime
environment (Brouwer et al., 2017; Vlachogianni, 2017).
The negative impacts of plastic consumption by fish affects fisheries and related economy (Markic and Nicol, 2014; Naidoo and
Glassom, 2019)
AIM & OBJECTIVES
To assess microplastics in the surface water and surface sediments collected from Kollidam river mouth
To analyze sediment texture and to assess capability of different sediment texture to retain microplastics
To conduct an experiment to study the potential of microplastics as carriers of contaminants.
To interpret the data using different statistical tools
METHODOLOGY
Before the field visit, a base map for the study area was prepared using GSI toposheet under GIS platform. A detailed field visit
has been carried out in October, 2023. Sampling has been done at points almost equidistance from one another.
PRE-TREATMENT OF SAMPLES
All the sediment samples were air dried and then amount of the samples were reduced to nearly 100 grams by coning and
quartering method.
SIEVE ANALYSIS
Sieve analysis was performed by using a series of standard ASTM test sieve (From 25Φ to 325Φ sieve sizes) of quarter phi
interval to get uniform size fractions in Ro tap sieve shaker for 20 minutes.
DETERMINATION SAND-SILT-CLAY RATIOS
In order to find out the percentages of sand, silt and clay, firstly, each sample is completely dried in a hot air oven to eliminate
the moisture content.
MICROPLASTICS SEPARATION
The microplastics were extracted from sediments as follows. The samples are sieved in a 2 mm mesh, and microplastics which
are > 2 mm were separated by filtration techniques
STUDY AREA
Kollidam river mouth is one of the major tributaries of the Cauvery river which is originates at Talakaveri
(head of Cauvery), Coorg district, Karnataka in the Brahmagiri hill range of Western Ghats.
By the British rulers, the Kollidam river mouth was formerly called as Coleroon river mouth in English.
It is rises at an elevation of 1341m (4440 feet.) from mean sea level and length of 760km approximately
flow from North West to East direction.
Cauvery river journey starts from Kundike pond and later it separated into two tributaries (Kanake and
Sujyoti).
All these three rivers meet at Bhagamandala. It flows in the state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and finally
deposited into the Bay of Bengal.
WORK COMPLETED
• Study area map is prepared using ArcGIS
• In Kollidam River estuary area sediment samples (15nos) are collected with a regular interval.
• And 1 liter of coastal water samples were collected
• Sediment samples are dried at room temperature
WORK TO BE COMPLETED
The chemical analysis and sediment digestion is yet to be done from the samples collected from
Kollidam river .
The quantification of microplastic study is yet to be done from the samples collected from kollidam
river.
SEM/EDS images of microplastics with surface morphological texture and profiles in the kollidam
river.
The microplstics extracted from sediment and water sample are subjected to be FTIR study.
WORK PLAN
No Work work plan
Element/Month 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 11-12
s
1. Literature survey
2. Preparation of
maps for field
visit
3. Collection of
water and
sediment
samples.
4. Analysis of
sediments and
water
5. Interpretation of
micro plastic
distribution
6. Report writing
FIELD PHOTOS
CHECKING PHYSICAL
WATER SAMPLE SEDIMENT SAMPLE
AND CHEMICAL
COLLECTION COLLECTION
PARAMETER
CONCLUSION
Sample collection is completed and the samples are dried at room temperature
The sandy clay is predominantly covered in the study area
More plastics are observed in the study area were collecting samples.
