The “disturbing” discovery of plastic rocks on a remote island in Brazil

There are few places on Earth as isolated as Trindade, a volcanic island that takes up to four days to reach by boat from the shores of Brazil.

For this reason, the geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos was left speechless when she found in this small territory of the South Atlantic a disturbing sign of human impact on a virgin landscape: rocks formed with plastic pollution that floats in the ocean.

Avelar Santos saw them for the first time in 2019, when he traveled to the island to develop his doctoral thesis on a completely different topic: landslides, erosion and others. “geological hazards”.

He was working near a protected nature reserve known as Parcel das Tartarugas, the world’s largest hatchery for endangered green turtles, when he came across a 40-square-foot outcrop of peculiar-looking blue-green rocks. Intrigued, she took dozens of samples back to her lab.

By analyzing the material, Avelar Santos and his team identified the rocks as a new type of geological formation, the result of the fusion of the materials the Earth has used to form rocks for billions of years with a new component: plastic garbage.

“We conclude that the human being now acts as a geological agent, influencing processes that were previously completely natural, such as rock formation”the scientist told AFP.

“It fits with the idea of ​​the Anthropocene, which scientists talk about a lot these days: the geological era in which humans influence the natural processes of the planet. This type of rock-like plastic will be preserved in the geological record and mark the Anthropocene.”he added.

Paradisiac island:

The find left her “sad” and “restless”said Avelar Santos, a professor at the Federal University of Paraná, in southern Brazil.

The scientist describes Trindade as “the Paradise”: a beautiful 9.2 km2 tropical island whose remoteness has made it a refuge for all kinds of species: seabirds, endemic fish, nearly extinct crabs, green turtles.

The only human presence on the island is a small Brazilian military base and a scientific research center.

It is a site “marvelous”he said, what he did “even more horrible to find something like this, and on one of the most ecologically important beaches”he explained.

He returned to the island at the end of last year to collect more specimens and delve into the phenomenon.

It found plastic formations similar to those previously reported in places including Hawaii, Great Britain, Italy and Japan since 2014.

But Trindade is the most remote place on the planet where they have been found so far, according to Avelar Santos.

And he fears that as rocks erode and microplastics seep into the environment, contamination in the island’s food chain will only increase.

Paradigm shift:

Their study, published last September in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, classified the new type of “rocks” They are found throughout the world in various types: “plastigglomerates”similar to sedimentary rocks; “pyroplastics”, similar to clastic rocks; and a previously unidentified type, “plastistones”similar to igneous rocks formed by lava flow.

“Marine pollution is causing a paradigm shift in the concepts of rocks and formations of sedimentary deposits”wrote his team.

“Human interventions are now so widespread that one has to question what is truly natural”they explained.

The main ingredient in the rocks that Santos discovered were remnants of fishing nets. But ocean currents have also brought large amounts of bottles, household waste and other plastic waste from around the world to the island, the geologist said.

Santos plans for the subject to become his main angle of investigation. Trinity “It is the most heavenly place I have ever seen”Santos assured.

“Seeing how vulnerable it is to the trash polluting our oceans shows how pervasive the problem is around the world”he added.

Source: AFP