No Day at the Beach: Characterizing Microplastics of Coastal Beaches of the North Shore of Massachusetts
Members of the Moore Lab, led by Master’s Candidate Gabrielle Jarrett (MEFB ’24), have been keeping busy in the winter months sorting through beach sand, tracking patterns of microplastic deposition. This work is in collaboration with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (MVPC) and aims to document microplastics in the surface sand of local beaches along Massachusetts’ North Shore, including the Great Marsh. Sand samples were collected from 5 local beaches in the spring and summer of 2024 by MVPC collaborators. At each beach site, 5 quadrats were sampled, for a total of 25 individual samples and over 110 kg of sand. Large plastic pieces, or macroplastics, were identified and removed from samples in the field. Sand samples were bagged and transported to the Moore Lab at UNH for further sorting. Jarrett is being assisted by a team of trained undergraduates, Lila Wilkins (‘26) and Clara Franzoni (‘25), who have been busy in sample preparation and processing, leading to micro-sieving, manual sorting, and identification of microplastics under a dissection microscope.
Wilkins is a second year Marine, Estuarine, and Freshwater Biology (MEFB) major who has been working in the Moore Lab since her freshman year, while Franzoni is a senior double major in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability and International Affairs who joined the Lab back in December of 2024. This research is funded by MVPC and represents a continued collaboration between this local agency and the Moore Lab with a shared goal of documenting microplastics as emerging pollutants in coastal environments.
