New Tar Creek Data and Its Implications

Last fall I went and did field sampling for water and soil samples from Tar Creek, OK. I collected water samples to test for microplastics and soil samples to test for heavy metal. With Tar Creek’s rich mining history, I expected high heavy metal concentrations, which is what we found. However, there was not much prior research on microplastic concentrations in the creek as there has not been much human activity until recent years.

I chose my sampling sites in an area where I have seen lots of picnicking, swimming, and fishing. This increase in human activity would likely lead to increased inorganic pollutants, such as microplastics. In my results, I found a several microplastics at all 6 sampling sites, and heavy metal concentrations still far exceeding safe values.

In a previous post, I discussed how microplastics are able to absorb and transport contaminants such as heavy metals. Since there are now microplastics being introduced into the creek, that means there is yet another pathway for heavy metal contamination to enter aquatic organisms and spread throughout the food chain.

Additionally, because plastic is inorganic, it is not able to be digested. Thus, it will likely sit in the aquatic organism’s digestive track, allowing the heavy metals absorbed onto the plastic to seep into the aquatic organism’s internal organs. This will be very harmful to the organism, and likely spread throughout the food chain to birds or even humans if we happen to eat the contaminated food.