This master's thesis project aims to understand the mechanisms and locations of increased microplastic accumulation along Norwegian beaches, focusing particularly on the pristine and vulnerable Lofoten Peninsula in Northern Norway.
The project involves collecting sand samples from various locations on both the seaward and landward sides of the Lofoten Peninsula. Some of these samples will undergo detailed microplastic analysis, while others will be examined in a sedimentology laboratory through separation processes and microscopic observations. The fieldwork will also include sedimentological analysis of beach profiles and trenches to ascertain depositional processes and environments.
Subsequent grain size and textural analyses will provide insights into the provenance, transport, and sorting of sediments. Temporal and spatial variations in beach development, sand transport, and accumulation rates will be determined using satellite imagery, along with oceanographic data and models of currents, storms, wave intensity, duration, and fetch. This data will provide a comprehensive understanding of wave and wind transport, the influx of riverine and marine sediment, alongshore transport, and sediment reworking and deposition.
The thesis aims to identify the locations and mechanisms of increased microplastic accumulation, the types of microplastics found, and their variations in relation to hydrodynamic and sedimentary depositional processes.
Methods:
- Sedimentological fieldwork
- Facies analysis
- Grain-size analysis
- Microplastic analysis
- and scientific writing
Pictures are from Google Earth.