Microplastic Contamination in the Pristine Waters of Tilicho Lake, Nepal: A Groundbreaking Study in the High-Altitude Himalayas
Description
Table S1. Site-wise microplastic (MP) concentration information: Table includes MP sampling site details, sample collection date, and average MP concentration (in particles/Ltr) evaluated in each site. Table S5. Detailed information on MPs recorded: Table includes details of MPs across six sampling sites, including MPs in blank samples, along with the morphological characteristics of recorded MP data—classified into categories, including color, shape, and size. Workout Table: Table includes net MP concentrations after performing average blank corrections on each category of MPs recorded among sampling locations—prepared for statistical analyses Fig. 1: A Map of microplastics study area Fig. 2: MPs detected in surface water samples of Tilicho Lake Fig. 3: Spatial variation of MPs in Tilicho Lake Fig. 4: Morphological distribution of MPs across sampling sites Fig. 5: Surface water sampling activity in Tilicho Lake Fig. S1: ATR-FTIR spectra of different representative MPs from Tilicho Lake
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Steps to reproduce
After the wet oxidation process of lake water samples using hydrogen peroxide and density separation process, followed by vacuum filtration through 0.45µm cellulose nitrate grided filter papers, the MP residues retained on the filter papers were observed under a binocular compound microscope at magnifications ranging from 40X to 100X. Through these visual inspections, MPs in each 200 mL subsample were quantified, with count restricted to particles larger than approximately 5µm. Detailed observations were systematically recorded in Microsoft Excel 2021 for subsequent analysis, including the computation of mean abundance and standard deviation of MPs across the sampled sites.
Institutions
- Tribhuvan University Institute of Engineering