内华达山脉新雪中检出微塑料：加州大学河滨分校团队公布研究、偏远雪场亦检出塑料纤维
加州大学河滨分校的一个研究团队在内华达山脉七个地点采集新雪样本后发现，即使是最偏远的雪场，新雪中也持续含有微小的塑料纤维，这项研究于10月30日由内华达新闻社披露。
环境毒理学家亚历山德拉·卡拉佩特罗娃多年来在内华达山脉偏远地区滑雪，一直好奇看似洁净的新雪究竟有多纯净，于是带领团队在六个月内对七个地点的新降雪进行了检测。
研究结果发表在本月出版的《环境科学与技术》期刊上，显示无论偏远地点还是人口聚居地点附近，新雪中都检出含量可观的微塑料。内华达山脉的积雪为内华达州北部约60%的淡水供水提供来源，因此这一发现可能意义重大，但研究并未测定最终有多少塑料进入饮用水。
卡拉佩特罗娃表示，微塑料研究目前仍处于起步阶段。这项研究提醒人们，塑料污染的传播范围远比直观感受更广，即便是远离城市的高山新雪也未能幸免，后续研究需要进一步追踪微塑料从降雪到水源的迁移路径。
来源：GSM·美国
Microplastics Found in Fresh Sierra Nevada Snow: UC Riverside Team Reports Findings, with Plastic Fibers Even at Remote Sites
Nevada — A University of California, Riverside research team that collected fresh snow samples at seven sites across the Sierra Nevada found that even the most remote locations consistently contain tiny plastic fibers in new snow, according to a study reported by Nevada Current on October 30.
Environmental toxicologist Aleksandra Karapetrov had skied in remote parts of the Sierra Nevada for years and wondered how pristine the seemingly clean snow really was; her team tested fresh snowfall at seven sites over six months.
The results, published this month in Environmental Science and Technology, show significant amounts of microplastics in fresh snowfall at both remote and populated sites. Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies about 60% of northern Nevada's freshwater, so the finding could be significant, though the study did not measure how much plastic ultimately reaches drinking water.
Karapetrov said microplastics research is still in its infancy. The study is a reminder that plastic pollution travels far beyond what intuition suggests — even high-mountain snow far from cities is not spared — and further research is needed to trace microplastics from snowfall to water supplies.
Source: GSM America
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：Last Night's Snow, Tioga Pass, Yosemite NP 5-20-15 (17901352428)。来源：Wikimedia Commons（inkknife_2000 (7.5 million views +)，CC BY-SA 2.0）
