Leveraging Geology to Address Microplastics

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Microplastic pollution affects every environment on the planet, and advanced geological expertise is essential for identifying the primary sources of the most prevalent microplastic pollutants. As geologists with a keen interest in our natural world, we can repurpose our oil industry expertise and advanced technologies to provide the data required to support positive environmental change.

Leveraging geology to understand climatic and environmental challenges is not a new phenomenon. Modern climate change models use data derived from the analysis of analogous events in the geological record. Similarly, microplastic sample compositional research and pollution monitoring can use geological skills to advance our understanding of the issue.

This is why a source-to-sink model is applicable: Plastic will end up somewhere, but where did it originate? Sample analysis for microplastic pollution can be effectively tackled using technologies originally developed for studying different forms of carbon, such as those employed in the petroleum industry. This represents a natural progression of our expertise in this field and an exciting opportunity for geoscientists to use their skills in tackling this critical challenge.

This webinar will cover:

• Identifying the largest sinks of microplastic pollution and understanding how it accumulates, including insights gained from geological fieldwork
• What we can do as geoscientists to limit and capture microplastic pollution
• How we can adapt geological techniques and technologies developed for the oil and gas industry for environmental monitoring of microplastics