In Finland’s freezing Arctic, lakes and rivers have nourished the lifeways of Indigenous Skolt Sámi communities for generations as they fished and herded reindeer. But three years of research undertaken by Sámi traditional knowledge holders and scientists have, for the first time, detected another presence in their waters: microplastics. “The plastic concentrations were really small, but they were definitely there in higher quantity than it was thought to be,” said Tuomo Soininen one of the study authors and a PhD scholar at the department of technical physics in the University of Eastern Finland. “It’s really pristine when you observe these areas, and you don’t see big plastic debris anywhere.” The research found that the average size of the microplastics was 100 micrometers (μm) and that concentrations ranged from 45 to 423 microplastic particles per cubic meter (35.3 cubic feet). They sampled both freshwater and marine water that are part of the Finnish Skolt Sámi traditional use: Lake Inarijärvi (Inari), Näätämö river catchment and the Neiden Fjord in the Barents Sea. The Näätämö River in Lapland, Finland’s northernmost region, flows and drains into the Neiden Fjord, before continuing into the Barents Sea. Neighboring Lake Inari was also sampled as a lake ecosystem but it is not in the same basin. The most common polymer types the researchers found were polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. Microplastic concentrations were lower in the fjord compared to the catchment area of Näätämö River or Lake Inari. The source of these microplastics is unknown. However, the authors hypothesize…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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