Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE

A Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Bushra Tatan entitled, “Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE”, submitted in June 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Md. Mortula and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Tarig Ali. Soft copy is available (Thesis,...

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Main Author: Tatan, Bushra (author)
Format: doctoralThesis
Published: 2023
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11073/25354
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author Tatan, Bushra
author_facet Tatan, Bushra
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Mortula, Maruf
Ali, Tarig
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Tatan, Bushra
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-09-19T07:18:39Z
2023-09-19T07:18:39Z
2023-06
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 35.232-2023.38
http://hdl.handle.net/11073/25354
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en_US
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Groundwater
Microplastics
Fourier-transform infrared microscopy
Geographic Information System
Remote sensing
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
description A Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Bushra Tatan entitled, “Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE”, submitted in June 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Md. Mortula and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Tarig Ali. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
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network_acronym_str aus
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oai_identifier_str oai:repository.aus.edu:11073/25354
publishDate 2023
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spelling Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAETatan, BushraGroundwaterMicroplasticsFourier-transform infrared microscopyGeographic Information SystemRemote sensingA Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Bushra Tatan entitled, “Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE”, submitted in June 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Md. Mortula and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Tarig Ali. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).Global production of plastics is expected to keep on increasing as consumption increases. Plastics are known to undergo disintegration in the environment resulting in the formation of microplastics. Microplastics pollution is growing, but few studies have considered assessment of contamination in groundwater. This might be due to lack of monitoring groundwater for microplastics contamination. However, groundwater is a common source of water in various industries globally. In the UAE, more than half of the water supply is from groundwater, specifically in the agricultural industries. This study aimed to investigate microplastics contamination in groundwater in the UAE. The study identified 30 groundwater boreholes in the Rahmaniya, Bedee, and Falah regions of Sharjah, UAE, from which samples were collected. To prepare the samples, a series of pretreatment procedures involving 30% hydrogen peroxide, density separation, and extraction filters were employed. Microplastics were subsequently detected using a microscope with 40x magnification, revealing the presence of microplastics in the water of 11 boreholes in Rahmaniya, ranging from 12 to 235 n/L, respectively. In the Falah area, contamination was observed in two boreholes, with 56 and 41 n/L, respectively, while no contamination was found in the Bedee area. Characterization of microplastics was conducted using ATR-FTIR analysis, which has successfully matched the obtained spectra with polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, and polypropylene for 10 samples. To examine the spatial variability and clustering of microplastics, a raster layer was created in GIS and used to perform hotspot analysis. The findings demonstrated a significant hotspot in the Rahmaniya area, indicating concentrated microplastics contamination. Moreover, potential sources of contamination were investigated based on land use and location, and three remote sensing-based indices, which are the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and moisture index. This has helped in the identification of industrial areas, the Sajaa landfill, Bedee Farmland, and the water dump lagoon as potential sources of contamination.College of EngineeringDepartment of Civil EngineeringMaster of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)Mortula, MarufAli, Tarig2023-09-19T07:18:39Z2023-09-19T07:18:39Z2023-06info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisapplication/pdf35.232-2023.38http://hdl.handle.net/11073/25354en_USoai:repository.aus.edu:11073/253542025-06-26T12:25:30Z
spellingShingle Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
Tatan, Bushra
Groundwater
Microplastics
Fourier-transform infrared microscopy
Geographic Information System
Remote sensing
status_str publishedVersion
title Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
title_full Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
title_fullStr Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
title_short Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
title_sort Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Emerging Microplastics Pollutants in Groundwater of UAE
topic Groundwater
Microplastics
Fourier-transform infrared microscopy
Geographic Information System
Remote sensing
url http://hdl.handle.net/11073/25354