Sedimentology of plastics: state of the art and future directions

18 - 19 March 2024 09:00 - 17:00 Conference Aston
Sedimentology of plastics

Theo Murphy meeting organised by Professor Gary Hampson, Dr Catherine Russell, Dr Ian Kane, Dr Michael Clare, Professor Sarah Gabbott and Professor Matthew Jackson.

This multi-disciplinary workshop brings together researchers with interests in how plastic behaves as a sedimentary material. Understanding how, where and when plastics are transported, break down and accumulate in the natural environment requires sedimentary geoscience research to be integrated with contributions from material scientists, chemical engineers and chemists, experimentalists, fluid dynamicists and biologists.

The schedule of talks and speaker biographies is available below. Speaker abstracts will be available closer to the meeting date.

Poster session

There will be a poster session on Monday 18 March 2024. If you would like to apply to present a poster please submit your proposed title, abstract (not more than 200 words and in third person), author list, name of the proposed presenter and institution to the Scientific Programmes team no later than Monday 12 February 2024. Please include the text ‘Poster abstract submission’ in the email subject line. Please note that places are limited and posters are selected at the scientific organiser’s discretion.

Attending this event

This event is intended for researchers in relevant fields and is a residential meeting taking place at Conference Aston, Aston Street, Birmingham, B4 7ET. The nearest train stations are Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street.

  • Free to attend
  • Advance registration essential (please request an invitation). Registration will close on Monday 26 February.
  • This is an in-person meeting
  • Catering options are available to purchase during registration. Participants are responsible for their own accommodation booking.

To view the programme, please scroll down and select the day on the left-hand side. Click the arrows to view the speakers and talks.

Enquiries: contact the Scientific Programmes team

Organisers

  • Gary Hampson

    Professor Gary Hampson, Imperial College London, UK

    Dr Gary Hampson is Professor of Sedimentary Geology in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London. He teaches sedimentology, stratigraphy, field geology and energy geoscience at undergraduate and postgraduate level. His research interests lie in the understanding of sediment routing, depositional systems and their preserved stratigraphy, and in applying this knowledge to the characterisation of sediment deposits and distribution. Gary’s research is grounded in the insights provided by field observations, but he is an advocate of collaborative, cross-disciplinary research that integrates different data types and analytical approaches.

  • Catherine Russell

    Dr Catherine Russell, University of Leicester, UK and Louisiana State University USA

    Catherine undertook an undergraduate Masters degree in geology at the University of Leicester and went on to complete her PhD at the University of Leeds on fluvial sedimentology in 2017. Catherine went on to be a Teaching Fellow in Sedimentology at the University of Leicester till 2021. She then undertook a Fulbright Scholarship in New Orleans for a year to research the long-term impacts that humans are having on natural surface processes across Earth Systems in the Anthropocene. As well as holding a position as Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester, she is an Adjunct Professor at both Louisiana State University and The University of New Orleans.

  • Ian Kane

    Dr Ian Kane, University of Manchester, UK

    Ian is a geologist and sedimentologist interested in how sediment, including mineral grains, organic fragments and anthropogenic material (such as microplastic), is moved across Earth’s surface and where it ends up. His main focus is on deep-marine environments which are the ultimate sinks for much of this sediment. Ian leads the SedResQ research group at the University of Manchester, working on a range of topics broadly revolving around the transport of sediments from terrestrial environments to the coast and their transfer into deep-marine basins; a central theme is the linkage of gravity-driven sedimentological processes to the deposition of natural and anthropogenic sediments and their preservation in the stratigraphic record. Ian is Executive Editor for the new Diamond Open Access Journal Sedimentologika and was previously Editor-in Chief of the journal Sedimentology.

  • Michael Clare

    Dr Michael Clare, National Oceanography Centre, UK

    Dr Mike Clare leads the Marine Geosystems research group at the National Oceanography Centre, UK, where his research focuses on monitoring the seafloor currents that control the deep-sea fate of sediments, carbon and increasingly pollutants such as plastics.

  • Sarah Gabbott

    Professor Sarah Gabbott, University of Leicester, UK

    Sarah Gabbott is Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester in the School of Geography, Geology and Environment. Sarah’s research focusses on evolutionary palaeobiology and the taphonomy of organic remains. Recently she has applied expertise in taphonomy to more durable and man-made organic compounds, such as plastic. She combines the design of laboratory experiments to model physical and chemical transformations, with data collected from real world samples to gain maximum understanding of how processes lead to preservation, or to loss, of organic materials.

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    Professor Matthew Jackson, Imperial College London, UK

    Matthew D Jackson is Professor in Geological Fluid Mechanics in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London. His research interests are broadly focussed on multiphase flow in subsurface reservoirs, including oil and gas reservoirs, aquifers, geothermal reservoirs and magma reservoirs.  He leads the Novel Reservoir Modelling and Simulation (NORMS) group at Imperial College.  Jackson holds a BS degree in Physics from Imperial College London and a PhD in geological fluid mechanics from the University of Liverpool.

Schedule

09:00-09:05 Introduction
09:05-09:30 Characterisation of micro- and nanoplastics: analytical challenges
Dr João Pinto da Costa, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Dr João Pinto da Costa, University of Aveiro, Portugal

09:30-09:45 Discussion
09:45-10:15 What can we learn from clastic sediment particles to improve our understanding of microplastic transport?
Dr Kryss Waldschläger, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Dr Kryss Waldschläger, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

10:15-10:30 Discussion
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 Critical reassessment of microplastic abundances in the marine environment
Dr Janika Reineccius, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Germany

Dr Janika Reineccius, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Germany

11:30-11:45 Discussion
11:45-12:15 Should we care about plastic in sediments?
Dr Florian Pohl, University of Plymouth, UK

Dr Florian Pohl, University of Plymouth, UK

12:15-12:30 Discussion

Chair

Ian Kane

Dr Ian Kane, University of Manchester, UK

13:30-14:00 Molecular design principles for more sustainable plastics
Dr Josh Worch, Virginia Tech, USA

Dr Josh Worch, Virginia Tech, USA

14:00-14:15 Discussion
14:15-14:45 The multidimensionality of microplastics and how it affects their fate and transport in aquatic ecosystems.
Dr Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto, Canada

Dr Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto, Canada

14:45-15:00 Discussion
15:00-15:30 Break
15:30-16:00 Professor Stefan Krause, University of Birmingham, UK
16:00-16:15 Discussion
16:15-17:00 Poster flash talks

Chair

Catherine Russell

Dr Catherine Russell, University of Leicester, UK and Louisiana State University USA

09:00-09:30 Microplastics in rivers: sources, storage, and flux
Professor Jamie Woodward, The University of Manchester, UK

Professor Jamie Woodward, The University of Manchester, UK

09:30-09:45 Discussion
09:45-10:15 The role of hyperpycnal and turbidity flows in the transport and burial of plastic in marine sediments: examples from Southern Italy
Dr Martina Pierdomenico, National Research Council (CNR-IAS), Italy

Dr Martina Pierdomenico, National Research Council (CNR-IAS), Italy

10:15-10:30 Discussion
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 Microplastics in deep-marine environments
Dr Ian Kane, University of Manchester, UK

Dr Ian Kane, University of Manchester, UK

11:30-11:45 Discussion
11:45-12:15 The transport and accumulation of plastics in submarine canyons and the deep sea
Dr Michael Clare, National Oceanography Centre, UK

Dr Michael Clare, National Oceanography Centre, UK

12:15-12:30 Discussion

Chair

Gary Hampson

Professor Gary Hampson, Imperial College London, UK

13:30-14:00 Stormwater pond sediment is key storage material for microplastic debris
Professor Patricia Corcoran, The University of Western Ontario, Canada

Professor Patricia Corcoran, The University of Western Ontario, Canada

14:00-14:15 Discussion
14:15-14:45 Plastic as a sediment
Dr Catherine Russell, University of Leicester, UK and Louisiana State University USA

Dr Catherine Russell, University of Leicester, UK and Louisiana State University USA

14:45-15:00 Discussion
15:00-15:30 Break
15:30-16:00 Plastic pollution - what progress are we making toward solving this global environmental challenge?
Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS

Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS

University of Plymouth

16:00-16:15 Discussion
16:15-17:00 Panel discussion