Abundance of Plastic Debris in Intertidal Surface Sediments from Arzew Gulf (Western Algeria)

BOUCHENTOUF Salim^1, and AÏNAD TABET Driss¹

¹Laboratory of Macromolecular Physical and Organic Chemistry, Djilali Liabes University of Sidi-Bel-Abbes, BP. 89, Algeria

Cite this paper:
BOUCHENTOUF Salim and AÏNAD TABET Driss. Abundance of Plastic Debris in Intertidal Surface Sediments from Arzew Gulf (Western Algeria). American Journal of Marine Science. 2013; 1(1):28-32. doi: 10.12691/marine-1-1-5

Abstract

The accumulation of large and small plastic debris is a problem throught the world’s seas and coastlines. Azew gulf is an important southern West Mediterranean coast receiving discharges from many sources. Abundance and sizes of plastic debris in ten stations from intertidal sediments have been reported in this study. The results of the present study shows high plastic fragments accumulation in sediments up to 13.9 % and mostly debris were in size between 0.5 cm and 01 cm. The abundance of plastic debris could be associated with coastal urban centers and their anthropogenic activities (waste rejection). The high presence found can be explained too by the transport of plastic debris via the surface water circulation. This first quantitative and physical study contributes to the enrichment of data on plastic debris pollution and underscores further researches on ecological aspects of this pollution.

Keywords:
plastic debris costal pollution intertidal sediments Arzew gulf beach pollution marine environment

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