River-Groundwater Interaction and Recharge Effects on Microplastics Contamination of Groundwater in Confined Alluvial Aquifers Severini, E, Ducci, L, Sutti, Alessandra, Robottom, S, Sutti, S and Celico, F 2022, River-Groundwater Interaction and Recharge Effects on Microplastics Contamination of Groundwater in Confined Alluvial Aquifers, Water, vol. 14, no. 12, pp. 1-16, doi: 10.3390/w14121913. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title River-Groundwater Interaction and Recharge Effects on Microplastics Contamination of Groundwater in Confined Alluvial Aquifers Author(s) Severini, E Ducci, L Sutti, Alessandra orcid.org/0000-0002-1793-3881 Robottom, S Sutti, S Celico, F Journal name Water Volume number 14 Issue number 12 Article ID 1913 Start page 1 End page 16 Total pages 16 Publisher MDPI Place of publication Basel, Switzerland Publication date 2022 ISSN 2073-4441 Summary Literature provides only a few examples of contamination of groundwater with microplastics, mainly investigated using a chemical approach. Little importance is given to the hydrogeological processes able to affect the contamination, such as river–groundwater interactions. This study was carried out with two aims. The first aim is the formulation of a method with a high result-to-cost ratio, based on the hydrogeological aspects of the investigated area. Microplastics were extracted from samples through filtration and successively counted and characterized morphologically through analysis of optical microscopy images. The second aim is to evaluate the presence of microplastics in some portions of an alluvial aquifer using this methodology. Microplastics in groundwater showed a higher circularity and Feret diameter than those found in surface waters, indicating that in porous aquifers the transport is likely more influenced by the microplastics’ shape than by their size. The aquifer recharge did not modify the microplastics’ characteristics in groundwater, whereas in surface water the flood wave promoted the resuspension of microplastics with lower circularity. These findings provide new pieces of evidence on the presence and transport of microplastics in both groundwater and surface waters, underlining how the hydrogeological characteristics of the area can be one of the main drivers of microplastics’ contamination. Language eng DOI 10.3390/w14121913 Field of Research 091299 Materials Engineering not elsewhere classified 040603 Hydrogeology Socio Economic Objective 960699 Environmental and Natural Resource Evaluation not elsewhere classified HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Grant ID IH210100023 COMP-HUB Initiative Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30173700 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Institute for Frontier Materials Open Access Collection GTP Research Related Links Link Description Link to full-text (open access)   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 27 Jun 2022, 11:55:16 EST Mon, 27 Jun 2022, 11:57:00 EST Mon, 27 Jun 2022, 16:40:07 EST Thu, 30 Jun 2022, 16:15:24 EST Fri, 01 Jul 2022, 16:46:33 EST Fri, 01 Jul 2022, 16:47:39 EST Fri, 01 Jul 2022, 16:51:05 EST Sat, 30 Jul 2022, 07:35:45 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 24 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 27 Jun 2022, 11:57:00 EST