Occurrence And Identification Of Microplastics In Surface Waters And Sediment Of The Al-Razzaza Lake\ Iraq

Abstract

This study was done to investigated the presence of microplastics in water and sediment of Al-Razzaza lake in mid of Iraq. Samples were collected and analyzed seasonally from surface water and sediment during November 2020- July 2021. The analysis of microplastics (MPs) in different environmental samples include detection, imaging and identification of the type of microplastics in the study region by fluorescent technique labeling with Nile Red staining and Raman spectroscopy were used to determine shape and type of MPs. The results clearly show the presence of a large number of MPs in both samples. Fragmants form were dominant in sediment samples it recorded 43%, also fiber or filaments were recorded 22% from all examined MPs, while microfiber and filaments were high percent in water samples 34% and 23.9% respectively, polymer types of MPs according to Raman spectrum identified main type for fibers is polyethylene terephthalate PET in collected samples from studied area. whereas, in fragments shape are acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ABS and poly m-phenylene terephthalamid. The presence of microplastics indicated the Al-Razzaza lake is heavily polluted with plastic pollutants by various sources.so we need to more work to obtain accurate data on microplastics in freshwater of Iraq.