Microplastics are pervasive items in the environment and it has been suggested that subtidal sediments are a potential sink and hotspot areas for these pollutants. Due to logistic limitations, this environmental compartment is not routinely sampled, which is evident in the limited number of studies conducted in subtidal zones, compared to intertidal zones and open waters. In order to fill part of the knowledge gap, this study aims to determine the abundance of microplastics in subtidal sediments in a shallow coastal embayment. Sediment samples were collected using the Reineck box corer from the RV Celtic Voyager. Microplastics were extracted by density separation using sodium tungstate dihydrate (Na₂WO₄·2H₂O)). Subsequently, a subsample of fibres were confirmed as having a synthetic origin by μ-FTIR spectroscopic analysis. A relatively low abundance of microplastics was recorded, c. 73 MP/kg d.w. of sediment, with a variable range across and within stations e.g. 0.3–15.4/100 g d.w. All identified microplastics were secondary (i.e. fibres (99%), fragments (1%)), with the majority identified as polystyrene, polyester, and polyethylene terephthalate. The data in this study illustrates the need for replicates and monitoring marine sediments for microplastics.

微塑料是环境中普遍存在的物品，并且有人指出，潮下沉积物是这些污染物的潜在汇入和热点地区。由于后勤方面的限制，该环境舱室没有常规采样，这与潮间带和开阔水域相比，在潮下带进行的有限数量的研究中很明显。为了填补部分知识鸿沟，本研究旨在确定浅海沿岸潮汐带潮汐沉积物中微塑性的丰度。使用RV Celtic Voyager的Reineck box corer收集沉积物样品。通过使用钨酸钠二水合物（Na ₂ WO ₄ ·2H ₂O））。随后，通过μ-FTIR光谱分析确认纤维的子样品具有合成来源。记录到相对较低的微塑料丰度c。73 MP / kg dw沉积物，跨站内和站内变化范围，例如0.3–15.4 / 100 g dw所有确定的微塑料都是次生的（即纤维（99％），碎片（1％）），大部分标识为聚苯乙烯，聚酯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯。这项研究中的数据说明了需要复制和监测海洋沉积物中的微塑料。