Earth is becoming a planet of garbage: scientists found microplastics where they simply couldn't exist

Scientists have discovered microplastics in sedimentary rock layers dating back to the first half of the 1700s when they simply could not have existed. The new finding demonstrates the destructive ability of microplastics to penetrate environments that have not been touched by modern humans.

This is stated in a study by a group of European scientists published in the journal Science Advances. They made their alarming discovery by studying the sediment layers of three lakes in Latvia.

During the study, the researchers tried to understand how reliable an indicator of the Anthropocene era is the presence of microplastics in geological layers. The Anthropocene era is believed to have begun in 1950 when humans began to have a significant impact on the environment.

Scientists will study the Earth's distant past by analyzing layers of ash or ice, but microplastics can become a reliable chronological marker for the Anthropocene. At least that's what was thought before. Now, a new discovery is forcing scientists to think about whether this idea was correct.

The new study found microplastics in every layer of sediment that the scientists extracted, including the 1733 layer.

"We conclude that the interpretation of the distribution of microplastics in the studied sediment profiles is ambiguous and cannot unequivocally indicate the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch," the scientists wrote.

Despite the fact that their work was not aimed at environmental issues, it is perhaps this aspect of it that is somewhat frightening because scientists had not previously known about the ability of microplastics to get absolutely everywhere. This discovery shows that human activity is turning the Earth into a kind of garbage planet.

Earlier, as Futurism writes, microplastics were found even in the most remote region of the Earth, Antarctica. It was found in several snow samples there. Scientists assume that it got there with the wind.

No less alarming is the discovery of microplastics inside human organs, which will certainly have a negative impact on the health of each individual.

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