Coincidence of the routes of the age of great geographical discoveries and the distribution of microplastics and plastic debris in the oceans

Abstract

This work looks at the coincidence between the navigation routes of the Age of Discovery (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) and the distribution of modern microplastics and plastic waste in the oceans. Plastics in the oceans have been an additional factor in the Columbian Exchange and the changing health and biodiversity of the world's oceans. The ocean routes of the caravels and galleons of the Age of Discovery and the distribution of modern giant ocean garbage patches coincide. Navigational charts and the logbooks of sailing ships of the Age of Discovery provide information on the distribution of the ocean currents that form modern ocean garbage patches. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located on the route of the Manila galleons and the voyage of Andrés de Urdaneta. The famous voyages of Christopher Columbus coincide with the location of the North Atlantic Garbage Patch. The voyage routes of Vasco da Gama and Abel Tasman partially cross the garbage patch in the Indian Ocean. The zero or positive buoyancy of plastic has turned it into a modern transoceanic armada that follows the routes of the great navigators. The ocean currents and gyres that formed the routes of the great geographical discoveries have become vast accumulators of plastic pollution.