The increased quantity of microplastics entering the oceans is threatening the health of marine ecosystems worldwide. Microplastics are of particular concern because they are available to a wide range of organisms and can possibly transfer potential toxic substances such as trace elements. Herein, we provide baseline information on the spatio-temporal variation of trace elements adsorbed to plastic fragments (1–5 mm) stranded in two beaches of oceanic islands of the Azores archipelago, North-East Atlantic. While trace elements such as Ca, Mg and Fe were found in high concentrations probably as a result of particular features of volcanic characteristics in the region, other elements were particularly low compared to other locations. Our results provide new information on the levels of trace elements associated with microplastics, necessary for the development of a risk assessment framework for plastic pollution in this remote region of the North-East Atlantic Ocean.

进入海洋的微塑料数量增加，正威胁着全球海洋生态系统的健康。微塑料特别受关注，因为它们可用于多种生物，并且可能转移潜在的有毒物质，例如微量元素。在此，我们提供了关于吸附在塑料碎片（1-5 mm）上的微量元素的时空变化的基线信息，这些塑料碎片滞留在东北大西洋亚速尔群岛的两个海洋岛屿海滩上。虽然可能是由于该地区火山特征的特定特征而发现了高浓度的痕量元素，例如Ca，Mg和Fe，但与其他位置相比，其他元素的含量特别低。我们的结果提供了有关与微塑料相关的微量元素含量的新信息，