Scientists in Brazil have discovered rocks mixed with plastic on Trindade Island, raising concerns about environmental pollution and its impact on wildlife and marine life in the area, Reuters reports.
The researchers noted that plastic debris, after melting, has fused with rocks on Trindade Island, located approximately 1,140 km off the southeastern coast of Brazil’s Espirito Santo state, indicating the increasing influence of human activity on Earth’s geological cycles.
Plastic-infused rock samples found on Brazil’s Trindade Island. (Photo: Reuters).
“This is a new but frightening discovery as pollution begins to affect geology,” said Fernanda Avelar Santos, a geologist at the Federal University of Paraná.
Santos and her team conducted chemical experiments to identify the type of plastic that was mixed with the rocks. The scientists named these newly discovered rocks “plastiglomerates” because they are formed from a mixture of sediment particles and other debris, bound together by plastic.
“We identified that the pollution mainly comes from fishing nets, a common type of waste found on the beaches of Trindade Island,” Santos stated.
“These nets are carried away by ocean currents and accumulate on the beaches. As temperatures rise, the plastic in the nets melts and combines with natural materials on the beach,” she added.
Trindade Island is one of the most important conservation areas in the world for the green turtle, also known as Chelonia mydas. Each year, thousands of turtles come here to nest. The only residents on the island are members of the Brazilian navy, who maintain a base on Trindade Island to protect the nesting grounds of these turtles.
“The area where we found the plastic-infused rock samples is part of a permanently protected zone in Brazil, close to the nesting site of the green turtle,” Santos explained.
“We frequently refer to the Anthropocene, and it has arrived,” she remarked. Anthropocene is a geological epoch defined by the significant impacts of human activity on the planet’s ecosystems and geology.
“Pollution, plastic waste in the sea and oceans are being transformed into geological material and will be preserved in the Earth’s geology,” she predicted.
