Microplastic Pollution on Ningaloo Coast Beaches: First Quantitative Assessment

Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area in Western Australia provides sediment data from seven remote and urbanized beaches. The dataset contains the first quantitative assessment of microplastic contamination in this remote Marine Protected Area, processed via elutriation and density floatation separation. Putative microplastics were analyzed by stereomicroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Use Cases

• Quantify microplastic contamination levels based on sediment samples from seven beaches.
• Compare pollution between remote and urbanized beach sites within a Marine Protected Area.
• Identify potential local sources of microplastics based on spectroscopic analysis results.
• Establish a baseline for future monitoring of the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area.

Strengths

• First quantitative assessment of microplastics for the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area.
• Samples collected from seven distinct beaches, including remote and urbanized sites.
• Analysis includes stereomicroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for particle identification.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Sediment collection, elutriation, density floatation separation, and spectroscopic analysis.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 09:01:42.979376; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, Western Australia