Information about sediment microplastics in the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman is limited. Our study on surface sediments presents spatial behaviors and their potential risks using the evidence of this research. Microplastics ranged from 10 to 45 particles per kilogram of sediment. Microplastics were in the size category of 100 µm to 2000 µm. And the average concentration of microplastics in selected stations was 655 pieces/kg. In most of the transects, a negative slope of MPs was observed from coastal waters to deeper waters. Black fibers constituted 65.42% of the fibers and high-density polymers were dominant. Also, the type of polymers was identified using Raman analysis and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon and polystyrene (PS) were the three main types of microplastic polymers in coastal surface sediments. In general, the findings reiterated the widespread presence of microplastics. In this study, the spatial outliers and the main deposition locations of microplastics were identified, and as a result, the places where future studies should be focused were determined.

Dr. Ali Mehdinia is a distinguished professor in the field of Marine chemistry at Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science (INIOAS). He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Zanjan University in 2001 and subsequently obtained his Master of Science from Shahid Beheshti University of Iran in 2004. He completed his PhD at 2008 in chemistry. Dr. Mehdinia began his academic activity in the Ocean Science Department of INIOAS at 2008. He earned full professorship in 2020. Throughout his career, Mehdinia has held several administrative roles, including Head of Marine Bioscience group, Head of Laboratories of INIOAS, Head of Ocean Science Department and Deputy of Research and Education at AUT. As a researcher, Mehdinia has authored/co-authored over 195 scholarly works, including approximately 195 peer-reviewed articles, more than 50 conference presentations, 3 book chapters, 2 US patents and 8 national patents. His contributions to the field have earned him recognition as a top 2% highly cited scientist on ISI data since 2019. His research interests are marine pollution and environmental chemistry.