Investigation of Microplastic Deposition in Areas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Leffler, Kelly

ABSTRACT: Recent discoveries of microplastics in atmospheric deposition samples collected in remote mountain areas suggest that microplastics are surprisingly pervasive in environments far removed from the industrialized urban areas, downstream waterways, and oceans where the accumulation of microplastics is well documented. These discoveries were made in the mountains in both Europe and western North America, but similar studies had not yet been conducted in the eastern North American mountains. The purpose of this study was to determine if microplastics can be found in atmospheric deposition samples collected at the Noland Divide research site and Elkmont research site in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). A deposition collection device, made entirely of metal and wood, was designed to trap both wet and dry deposition within a 3-foot by 3-foot area and gather in a metal bucket. The samples were carried out of the site in glass containers and filtered in a lab under a hood at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Filters were observed for microplastics using a Leica microscope with maximum 400X magnification. Suspected microplastics were observed in samples from both GSMNP sites. This suggests that atmospheric deposition of microplastics occurs in areas away from urban development