Identification, characterization, and quantification of microplastics in water and sediments of high-altitude Himalayan Dal Lake

Jaffer, Yousuf Dar, Mukhopadhyay, Raj, Raul, Chittaranjan, Amini, Hossein, Bhat, Irfan, Bhendarkar, Mukesh, Mir, Shakir Ahmad, Kumar, Satyendra and Yadav, Rajender Kumar 2026. Identification, characterization, and quantification of microplastics in water and sediments of high-altitude Himalayan Dal Lake. Environmental Research: Water 2 , 015008. 10.1088/3033-4942/ae49ba

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Abstract

Plastic debris is believed to be widespread in freshwater ecosystems globally. The present study aims to characterize, identify, and measure microplastic (MP) concentrations in Dal Lake, one of the most renowned high-altitude urban Himalayan lakes located at 1583 m above mean sea level and covering an area of 24 km2. Results revealed that the number of MPs in lake surface water and sediments ranged from 140 ± 20 to 846 ± 136 particles l−1 and 2616 ± 1016 to 12 966 ± 496 particles kg−1 dry weight, respectively. The relatively higher number of MPs in Dal Lake sediments indicates that sediments act as a silent trap, accumulating MPs over time. The MPs exhibited three morphological types, i.e. fragment, film, and line, indicating the fragmentation of bigger plastic particles. The most prevalent size fraction of MPs (90%) in both water and sediment was less than 500 µm. Count-based pollution level indexing indicated higher contamination in sediments (2.05 times that in surface water), placing the lake’s health at a high hazard level (category II). Domestic waste from urban areas, tourism activities, and road runoff can serve as potential pathways for MPs to enter the lake. To further explore the environmental patterns associated with MP abundance, we implemented a semi-supervised machine learning framework combining principal component analysis-based clustering and random forest classification. This approach revealed that variables such as total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and pH are key environmental indicators distinguishing MP-related clusters in Dal Lake. This study highlights the widespread presence of MPs in high-altitude freshwater ecosystems and emphasizes the significance of lake sediments in the entrapment of MPs. There is, therefore, an urgent need to implement plastic pollution mitigation strategies to protect the environment and public health of such vulnerable urban lake regions.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Publisher:	IOP Publishing
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 April 2026
Date of Acceptance:	24 February 2026
Last Modified:	20 Apr 2026 13:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186498

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