Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254

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Environmental Pollution
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol

Microplastics in sea coastal zone: Lessons learned from the Baltic

amber*
Irina Chubarenko a, *, Natalia Stepanova a, b
a
P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Atlantic Branch, Laboratory for Marine Physics, prospect Mira, 1, Kaliningrad, 236022,
Russia
b
P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Sea currents Laboratory, Nakhimovski prospect, 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Baltic amber, adored for its beauty already in Homer's Odyssey (ca. 800 B.C.E), has its material density
Received 5 October 2016 close to that of wide-spread plastics like polyamide, polystyrene, or acrylic. Migrations of amber stones in
Received in revised form the sea and their massive washing ashore have been monitored by Baltic citizens for ages. Based on the
7 January 2017
collected information, we present the hypothesis on the behaviour of microplastic particles in sea coastal
Accepted 27 January 2017
Available online 16 February 2017
zone. Fresh-to-strong winds generate surface waves, currents and roll-structures, whose joint effect
washes ashore from the underwater slope both amber stones and plastics e and carries them back to the
sea in a few days. Analysis of underlying hydrophysical processes suggests that sea coastal zone under
Keywords:
Microplastics
stormy winds plays a role of a mill for plastics, and negatively buoyant pieces seem to repeatedly migrate
Amber washing-out between beaches and underwater slopes until they are broken into small enough fragments that can be
Coastal zone transported by currents to deeper areas and deposited out of reach of stormy waves. Direct observations
Stormy conditions on microplastics migrations are urged to prove the hypothesis.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Pollution of seas and oceans by macro- and microplastic parti-
cles rapidly increases and raises serious concern (Thompson, 2015;
Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012). Microplastics (MPs) are found nowadays
in fish (Lusher et al., 2013) and birds (Trevail et al., 2015), in deep-
ocean sediments (Thompson et al., 2004; van Cauwenberghe et al.,
2013) and arctic water (Lusher et al., 2015) and ice (Obbard et al.,
2014); its surface attracts toxins and chemicals from the environ-
ment (Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012; Andrady, 2011; Engler, 2012; Mato
et al., 2001) and may convey them up the food chain (Hidalgo-Ruz
et al., 2012; Andrady, 2011; Ivar do Sul and Monica, 2014). At the
same time, various dimensions, shapes and densities of MPs
(conventionally, particles smaller than 5 mm (Hidalgo-Ruz et al.,
2012; Ivar do Sul and Monica, 2014; Arthur et al., 2008)) make it
difficult to predict its behaviour in highly turbulent marine envi-
ronment. It is suggested (Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012) that energetic
processes in sea coastal zones under stormy conditions play an
important role in mechanical destruction and re-distribution of
*
This paper has been recommended for acceptance by Eddy Y. Zeng.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: irina_chubarenko@mail.ru (I. Chubarenko).
plastic pieces. However, not any field observations of MPs behav-
iour in the sea coastal zone have been available up to now, and
many basic questions remain still not answered: which physical
factors are of primary importance for MPs migrations, where all the
marine plastics is and why it is so dispersed everywhere.
Surprisingly, the Baltic amber (succinite) and impressive stories
about its washing out from the sea to the shores of the South-
Eastern Baltic (Fig. 1) can shed some light onto these processes.
Succinite material density of about 1.05e1.1 g cm
3 is close to that
of widely used plastics like polyamide (nylon, 1.02e1.05 g cm
3),
polystyrene (1.04e1.1 g cm
3), or acrylic (1.09e1.20 g cm
3)
(Chubarenko et al., 2016), and nowadays MPs are abundantly found
ashore together with amber crumbs (Fig. 1).
Baltic citizens have monitored the behaviour of amber in the sea
coastal zone for centuries, hunting for these drops of resin of
ancient pine-trees called “tears of Heliades”, the daughters of He-
lios, the Sun God. Along with great works of literature (like Odyssey
by Homer (Heubeck et al., 1988)), myths (e.g., those by Ovid (1997)),
and ancient trading documents, there are quite many physically
rational observations and facts describing the process of amber
migration in the sea and, especially, addressing the phenomenon of
“amber washing-out” after severe storms, when sometimes tons of
amber pieces are thrown by the Baltic from its bottom to the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.01.085
0269-7491/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
244 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
Fig. 1. Amber crumbs (highlighted by yellow arrows) and microplastics (in red ovals) are washed ashore together (beach of the Vistula Spit, south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea,
photo by I. Chubarenko). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
beaches. These extraordinary events are even especially termed by
local citizens e “brosy” e after a Russian word «бросать» (pro-
nounced as “ brosat’ ”), meaning “throw out”.
In this paper, we make an attempt to analyse the collected set of
historical and observational facts from the point of view of physical
oceanography, trying to (i) deduce physical drivers of the washing-
out processes and (ii) project the results onto the problem of
transport and fate of plastic particles in the sea coastal zone.
2. Materials, methods and sources of information
Any systematic monitoring or scientific investigation on the
Baltic amber migrations and beaching is not yet available. The main
method of this study is cross-comparison of the information from
historical and local sources e with present-day knowledge on the
Baltic Sea oceanography and hydrophysical processes in the sea
coastal zone.
Comparisons of material and transport properties of amber
crumbs and microplastics are performed as the first step. They refer
to both seminal studies on loose-boundary hydraulics by Shields
(1936), who by chance dealt also with amber and plastics, and
recent publications (e.g., Critchell and Lambrechts, 2016; Ballent
et al., 2012, 2013), as well as to our own experience with micro-
plastics particles (Chubarenko et al., 2016; Esiukova, 2017;
Khatmullina and Isachenko, 2017; Zobkov and Esiukova, 2017).
Information on historical aspects of an amber collecting process
in the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea, exceptionally massive
amber washing-out events, and the largest beached amber pieces
was collected from books (Beck and Shennan, 1991; Finlay, 2006)
and web sites of museums (Physical and chemical qualities of
amber, 2016; Palanga Amber Museum, 2016), jewellery makers
(About amber, 2016; About Baltic amber, 2016; Large beaching of
amber in Pionerskiy, 2016), hobby/spare time sites (Amber and its
gathering, 2015; Catching of amber in the Baltic Sea, 2015).
Observational facts, particular event descriptions, specific fea-
tures of amber washing-outs were summarised from various
dispersed sources, including historical (Finlay, 2006; Beck and
Shennan, 1991) and present-day publications (Kireyeva, 1960;
Amber and its gathering, 2015), web (Alekseev, 2015;
Pushkarskaya, 2015; Nuyakshev, 2014; The storm threw tons of
amber and seaweed to the coast of the Baltic Sea, 2013) and TV
sources (Treasure hunters attacked the Baltic coast scattered with
amber, 2015; Privalov, 2016) as well as direct communications
and discussions with local citizens and hobby-hunters. Analysis of
those field situations was complemented by meteorological infor-
mation from regular governmental weather stations (Reliable
forecast, 2004).
Geological information on general amber deposit structure and
depths of openings of amber-containing layer to the sea bottom
came from the geological atlases (Atlas of geological and
environmental geological maps of the Russian area of the Baltic
Sea, 2010) and amber mining plant site (Geology, 2016).
Oceanography of the Baltic Sea has already been quite well
investigated. The referred magnitudes of typical stormy winds
speed, direction, and fetch, as well as significant wave height,
period, and length of the developed surface waves are based on
fundamental investigations published in books (State and
Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008; Lepp€ aranta and Myrberg, 2008).
Discussions on particular mechanisms of transport and mixing
in the coastal zone refer to classical works on the formation of roll-
structures in the upper layer mixed layer (Langmuir, 1938; Craik
and Leibovich, 1976; Thorpe, 2005; Leibovich, 1983), and wave-
induced sediment transport (Dean and Dalrymple, 2001; Van
Rijn, 2012).
Finally, the observed behaviour of amber pieces is projected
onto that of microplastics particles, and a scheme of migration of
plastic pieces in the sea coastal zone is suggested.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Amber vs microplastics: physical and transport properties
Amber, plastics, and marine flotsam appear together on wrack-
lines of the beaches of the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea after
windy weather (e.g., Esiukova, 2017). Before projecting the
observed behaviour of amber pieces onto that of plastics in general
and MPs in particular, let us compare their physical and dynamical
characteristics.
Material density. For both amber and plastics, only the range of
material densities has a physical sense. Amber is naturally inho-
mogeneous, and the stones may also have various inclusions.
Amber does not change its density with time in marine waters, and
even does not get bio-fouled. On the other hand, plastics may
contain various additives, which initially influence their density,
 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
and under environmental conditions plastics change their density
due to weathering and bio-fouling, which, correspondingly, de-
creases or increases their density. Overall, the density of amber
measured in our laboratory varied between 1.05 and 1.1 g cm
3;
some sources mention values up to 2.00 g cm
3, which is very rare
case (e.g., (About amber, 2016)). Many widely used plastics fit this
range, like polyamide (nylon, 1.02e1.05 g cm
3), polystyrene
(1.04e1.1 g cm
3), acrylic (1.09e1.20 g cm
3), and some are close,
like polyethylene (0.97e1.28 g cm
3 with additives), polyester
(1.01e1.46 g cm
3) (Chubarenko et al., 2016).
Shape. MPs are shown to have various shapes, most common
being 3 d regular or irregular beads, flattened wreckage, flakes,
films, fibres. Amber pieces (Fig. 2) have rather irregular but defi-
nitely volumetric (3 d) shapes; many of them break in parts in
stormy waves and have sharp fresh cleavages. Fig. 2 shows MPs and
amber crumbs collected on the beach at the same time: it seems
that there is no prevalent shape of MPs particles beached together
with amber. Note that all of them were beached with lots of
seaweed and marine flotsam (see Fig. 1 and photos in Supplement
Material), so that plastics were entangled and could not float freely.
Particle principle shape (3 d-particle, or flat flake, or thin fibre) is
shown to be very important for its motion (Khatmullina and
Isachenko, 2017). However, smaller details seem to be not so
important. Shields (1936) in his well-known laboratory investiga-
tion of re-suspension threshold for different bed loads did not find
“essential influences of the grain shape upon the magnitude of bed-
load movement” Shields (1936, p. 28): he used 3 d sharp-edged
(amber and granite) and rounded (brown-coal) particles for bed-
load.
Size, age, and mechanical damages. In the context of this study,
important is comparison of sizes and qualities of plastic and amber
pieces, beached during the same environmental conditions. Under
calm weather and weak winds, no amber is present on the beaches.
Weak to moderate winds typically bring (in case the “event” hap-
pens) amber crumbs with small wooden pieces (Fig. 1), accompa-
nied by almost exclusively MPs. The stronger winds e the larger
plastics and amber pieces are beached, often with wood only
(without seaweed), but MPs and small amber crumbs remain as
well. Fig. 3 shows such “moderate-winds” beached plastics: it has
severe mechanical damages and bio-fouling, and the dates printed
on them indicate 3e5 years of residence in the sea. After storms,
Fig. 2. Plastic and amber pieces beached after 7e8 m s
1 wind episode: (a) various microplastics: fragments, folded and stretched films, foam; (b) amber typical-size crumbs; (c)
amber pieces found at the same time but rare for such wind speed (photo by I. Chubarenko).
245
together with large amber “brosy”, very heavy and large plastic
objects can be washed out: large boxes, entangled fishing nets and
ropes, etc. Again, amber crumbs and MPs are also present (e.g.,
Esiukova, 2017).
Sink or float? Amber (density 1.05e1.1 g cm
3) cannot float in
Baltic water (1.006e1.014 g cm
3); its density does not change with
time in the sea, and it does not get bio-fouled. Concerning plastics,
beached together with it, the answer is not so obvious: plastic
density may change due to weathering or bio-fouling, relatively
light PE films may catch sand, while heavier PET bottles may
contain air bubbles, etc. The direct checking of plastic objects from
the wrackline shows (see Supplement Video “Sink”), however, that
most of them are sinking almost immediately. Measured density of
beached wet wooden sticks is about 1.02 g cm
3, i.e., they also sink
in water. In accord with this are observations by (Ballent et al., 2012,
2013): they report that their collection of high-density MPs is made
from objects stranded after a high tide on sandy beaches of the
North Sea. High-density pellets, used for laboratory experiments in
(Ballent et al., 2012, 2013), were collected on sandy beaches in
California.
Thus, an essential part of the beached plastics is heavier than
water. This is true for both tidal (like the North Sea) and non-tidal
(like the Baltic Sea) beaches; at least for the latter ones - presence of
weakening surface waves is important.
Critical shear stress for amber and MPs. Some information on
direct measurements of re-suspension threshold (initiation of
motion) in water current can be found from both amber and MPs
side, as well as from investigations of other bed-load materials of
the “plastic” density range (Table 1).
In seminal work by Shields (1936) on sediment re-suspension
and transport by water currents, along with barite, granite and
brown coal, amber crumbs were occasionally used as one of the
investigated bed loads. Amber fragments with grain size from 0.3 to
3 mm (mean diameter d ¼ 1.56 mm) and density 1.06 g cm
3,
resulting from the cutting of larger amber pieces, are incorporated
in sediment research as “easily movable … sharp edged” bed-load
particles. Critical shear stress for such particles, re-calculated from
the amber-points on the Shields (1936) diagram (Fig. 4), is about t*
~0.03e0.04 N m
2, and critical velocity u* ¼ 4e6 mm s
1.
From MPs side, only very limited information is still available.
Ballent and co-authors (2012; 2013) reported measured in
246 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254

Fig. 3. Beached wreckage (aed) has severe mechanical damages and bio-fouling, suggesting its long residence at the stony bottom. Note a colony of Balanus barnacles on the bottle
neck (b). The dates printed on the pieces (c: 01.06.2011; d: exp.05.06.2013), collected on 3 April 2016 on the beach of the Vistula Spit, indicate that they spent in the sea at least 3e5
years (photos by I. Chubarenko).

Table 1
Laboratory measurements of re-suspension threshold in fluid flow for particles similar to MPs in size and density. Coarse sand is shown for comparison.

Material Density, Mean diameter, Shape Critical shear stress, t*, Critical velocity, Source
r, g cm
3 d, mm N m
2 u*, mm s
1

Amber cuttings 1.06 1.56 sharp edged 0.03e0.04 4e6 Shields, 1936
Brown coal 1.27 1.8e2.5 angular, with rounded corners 0.13e0.35 5e20 Shields, 1936
Plastic pellets (black) 1.06 3.5e4.7 rounded 0.025 4.9 Ballent et al., 2012
(1.03*)
Plastic pellets (opaque) 1.07 3.3e4.4 rounded >0.18 >13 Ballent et al., 2012
(1.04*)
Plastic pellets (transparent) 1.13 3.8e5.1 rounded >0.18 >13 Ballent et al., 2012
(1.09*)
Coarse sand 2.65 0.5e1 rounded 0.27e0.47 16e22 Berenbrock and Tranmer, 2008

* “effective” density in fresh-water is calculated here, since (Ballent et al., 2012) experiments were conducted in saltwater with density 1.03 g cm
3.

laboratory dynamical characteristics for three kinds of industrial
pre-production high-density plastic pellets collected on sandy
beaches of Los Angeles County (California), see Table 1. They were
of rounded shape and somewhat larger than the Shields amber
particles (3.3e5.1 mm), with densities from 1.06 to 1.13 g cm
3.
In a view of inter-comparison, one should have in mind that
there are three differences in the (Shields, 1936) and (Ballent et al.,
2012) experiments. Firstly, the working fluid in (Shields, 1936) was
fresh water, whilst (Ballent et al., 2012) worked with saltwater with
density 1.026 g cm
3; for our analysis, in Table 1 both real and
“effective” densities are shown for (Ballent et al., 2012) pellets.
Secondly, different experimental techniques were used: in (Shields,
1936), bed-load material was re-suspended by unidirectional flow
in an open channel, whilst in (Ballent et al., 2012) a rotating re-
suspension chamber was used. While comparing these methods
(Tolhurst et al., 2000), found the calculated threshold values
“relatively comparable”, but affected by the “device size”; thus, in
our case, some deviations are anticipated. And the third difference
lies in the principal difficulty to define what exactly (formally) is
“the beginning of motion”: Shields (1936) defines the threshold by
“extrapolating the bed-load transport curve to the time bed-load
movement ceases” (Shields, 1936, p. 10), and (Ballent et al., 2012)
report the bed-load shear/velocity “at which 50% of the particles
rolled, slid or saltated on the chamber floor” (Ballent et al., 2012, p.
18761). Nonetheless, the experimental points for both amber
crumbs and plastic pellets fit quite well in the classical “Shields
curve” (Fig. 4), which expresses in dimensionless form the border
between regimes of “motion” and “no motion” of the bed-load
material under action of fluid flow.
One more example can be incorporated in the present analysis.
Brown coal (lignite) particles from Shields (1936) experiments,
with their density of 1.27 g cm
3, can be considered as a model for
MPs like that from Plexiglas (density 1.24 g cm
3), polyurethane
(1.17e1.28 g cm
3), or polyvinylchloride (1.16e1.58 g cm
3). The
particles used in three runs in Shields (1936) were characterized by
the mean diameters 1.77, 1.88 and 2.53 mm, and described as
“angular, with rounded corners”. Again, using the corresponding
points from the Shields (1936) diagram, one obtains the values for
critical shear stress to be about t* ~ 0.13e0.35 N m
2, and critical
velocity 5e20 mm s
1.
 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
Fig. 4. The classical Shields (1936) diagram, showing the dependence of dimensionless shear stress from the particle Reynolds number, is used to describe the initiation of motion of
natural bed-load material of different grain size in the fluid flow. Points for amber and lignite from (Shields, 1936), and for high-density preproduction pellets from (Ballent et al.,
2013) are shown. Note that (Ballent et al., 2012) used another experimental technique.
Fig. 4 illustrates conditions of “initiation of motion” of particles
in the fluid flow (Shields, 1936): the dependence of the dimen-
sionless Shields critical shear, q ¼ ðr
rt*Þ,g,d, from the dimension-
p w
less particle Reynolds number, Re* ¼ u*v,d. Here, t* is dimensional
critical shear stress, rp eparticle density, rw e water density, g e
acceleration due to gravity, u* - critical velocity, d e diameter of the
particle and n e water kinematic viscosity. We highlighted the
Shields (1936) data points for amber and lignite (density
1.27 g cm
3), and added points for three kinds of plastic pellets
from (Ballent et al., 2012). Points for coarse sand (Casey, 1935; cited
after Shields, 1936) are also shown for comparison. Thus, small
particles of similar to plastics density are used in sedimentology
research, and both amber crumbs and “MPs” (with both sharp-
edged and rounded particles) obey the initiation-of-motion de-
pendencies obtained for natural loose bed-load materials.
Physically, amber, sands and (used in the above experiments
quite large and 3 d-shaped) MP particles have similar critical
Shields dimensionless shear of about q ~ 0.03e0.04, which means
the analogous re-suspension threshold in unidirectional current for
the particles with the same Re*. It could be expected that films,
flakes and fibres, in contrast to 3 d-fragments and rounded pellets,
hardly obey this dependency. At the same time the observations
show that, in the case of “brosy”, MPs of various shapes are beached
together, see Fig. 2 for example. This indicates contribution of other
transport mechanisms for amber/plastics migrations and beaching;
most probably these are wave-induced motions.
It is important to note for future experiments on MPs transport
that the re-suspension threshold measurements in sedimentology
usually follow a unified (Shields, 1936) technique: bed-load (loose
sand, amber or MPs) is exposed to the flow moving above it. Hence,
such experiments characterize the initiation of motion of MPs over
the bed, entirely covered by the analogous (MP) particles. Under
real-sea conditions, MPs seem generally to be re-suspended from
natural bottom materials, which means at least influence of
another bed roughness (i.e., another boundary layer thickness) and
use of the particle Re* number based on dimensions of both MP
particle and bottom material. Additional laboratory experiments on
MPs re-suspension from bottoms covered by silt, sand, cobbles, etc.
Are very desirable to obtain re-suspension threshold more
247
applicable to in-situ conditions for MPs. In addition, along with the
re-suspension by water flow, the oscillatory wave motions seem to
be valuable for easy-moveable plastic particles.
3.2. Baltic amber: appearance and migrations in sea coastal zone
Appearance of amber on the beach is quite a typical phenome-
non for the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea, from Poland to
Lithuania, and is very attractive for both local citizens and tourists.
As a consequence, the conditions when it happens are well known
and rather characteristic of this region: after wind episodes of more
than 7e10 m s
1, the wrackline of the beaches e here or there e is
often delineated with amber crumbs. Just windy episodes bring
numerous but small crumbs of amber (2e5 mm), like those shown
in Fig. 1: the photo was taken on 25 September 2015 on the beach of
the Vistula spit during a very calm weather period - but right after
the transient 4-h episode of gentle breeze up to 6 m s
1 from the
north-west (frontally to this shore). Heavier winds and especially
severe winter storms may present amber samples up to 12 kg - the
largest known piece, found on the Baltic shore of Prussia in the 19th
century (Baltic Countries Mineral Industry Handbook, 2016). The
other two giant beached amber samples, reported in historical
texts, were about 9.7 and 7 kg. Such washed out stones are
extremely rare: all the history knows less than 10 stones heavier
than 5 kg (Baltic Countries Mineral Industry Handbook, 2016). The
largest amber piece in the present-day collections, exhibited
nowadays in the Berlin Natural Science Museum (Germany), is
47 cm long and weighs 9.8 kg (About amber, 2016). Concerning the
maximum total volume of the beached amber, local legends
mention the autumnal event in 1862, when almost 2 tons of amber
were beached near Yantarny (former Palmniken, Fig. 5) during one
storm (Finlay, 2006; Beck and Shennan, 1991). After a storm of 1914,
people collected about 870 kg of amber on the northern beaches of
the Sambian peninsula (Beck and Shennan, 1991). Along with
amber, the wrackline after storms contains seaweed, shells, and
wet wooden pieces; and nowadays they are always mixed with
some plastic garbage and microplastics particles.
Baltic amber is fossil resin produced by pine trees which grew in
Northern Europe about 50 million years ago. In the course of time,
248 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254

Fig. 5. Map of the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea, showing the location of open amber mining near the city of Yantarny. The isobath 20 m (in blue) is the offshore limit of
probable openings of amber-containing blue clay to the underwater slope (Geology, 2016). The moraine outcrops (thick black lines) are a potential trap of amber (Atlas of geological
and environmental geological maps of the Russian area of the Baltic Sea, 2010). An effective wind fetch for the given region (State and Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008) and typical
sites of amber ‘brosy’ (Atlas of geological and environmental geological maps of the Russian area of the Baltic Sea, 2010, the scheme initially compiled by S. Isachenko after enquiry
of miners) are shown by red and yellow points, with the colour corresponding to wind direction. Map of Europe: http://www.freeworldmaps.net; the map in background was
drafted in open software Quantum GIS (ver. 2.10) www.qgis.org/ru/site/forusers/download.html, with final production in CorelDraw X4. (For interpretation of the references to
colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

by polymerization and oxidation, the resin was transformed into bottom.

amber (About amber, 2016). The world largest deposit (about 90%)
of amber (Baltic Countries Mineral Industry Handbook, 2016) is
located in Kaliningrad region (Russia) near the city of Yantarny
(Fig. 5), with open mining on land. Meanwhile, the underground
distribution of layers of the amber-containing “blue clay” and their
openings to underwater slope in the sea are poorly known. Within
the open mining site, the layer of the blue clay is located approxi-
mately between 10 and 20 m below the sea level (Geology, 2016),
and has a slight inclination towards the land, suggesting that its
opening to the underwater slope might be within the depth range
of 8e15 m.
Until the 13th century, the seacoast inhabitants collected amber
directly from the seashore, and later they learned how to obtain
amber by combing the seabed from small boats with nets and long
sticks (Finlay, 2006). With the appearance of the diving suit, the
direct collection from the bottom became also popular. Amber
pieces can often be found on the bottom of slight depressions at the
depths of 5e15 m, or stuck in-between boulders in areas with stony
At the bottom of the sea, amber is usually found around the
Sambian peninsula at the depths from 3 to 12 m, maximum 15 m.
One reason for this could be that the layer of the ancient Litorina
Sea “blue clay” is located at the depths of 4e15 m below the sea
level. It stretches from the Vistula Spit to the Curonean Spit and
further north (Atlas of geological and environmental geological
maps of the Russian area of the Baltic Sea, 2010), but opens to the
sea bottom only off the Yantarny deposit (Fig. 5). At the same time,
amber is never washed ashore without plenty of seaweed, wooden
sticks, and natural marine litter. This suggests that the beached
amber pieces are not directly washed out from the bottom sedi-
ments, but are caught by seaweed clouds during their underwater
migrations, just like other slightly negatively buoyant wooden (or
plastic) pieces. An important observation is that e after stormy
weather - amber is typically washed ashore together with red algae
Furcellaria lumbricalis, which are abundant in the eastern part of the
Baltic Proper and compose a belt along the shore, dominating on
submerged rocks at 6e15 m depth (Kireyeva, 1960). Furcellaria can
 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
also grow in large floating mats (Kireyeva, 1960; Furcellaria, 2015),
and such mats are also mentioned quite often as washed ashore
together with amber during the “brosy” events. One way or
another, it is quite obvious that amber pieces, which are heavier
than water, are washed out of the sea during storms from the
depths down to 6e15 m.
3.2.1. The events of “brosy”
As observations show, amber pieces are able to move up-slope
and small pieces appear at the shoreline even at moderate winds
(see Fig. 1 and photos in the Supplement Material); we are not
aware of any systematic monitoring of such cases. The major part of
observational facts describes the cases after severe storms, when
amber “brosy” are large and impressive indeed. Amber hunting in
the sea has a long historical trace, and is at present quite a popular
spare time activity in Kaliningrad region. It is regarded under the
Russian law as hobby-fishing or collecting berries in nature, and
many hunters enjoy extreme fishing for amber stones in the stormy
surf. As a consequence, general signs indicating favourable condi-
tions for the “brosy” are well known - but the exact place and the
very moment are still almost unpredictable. These signs and char-
acteristic features of the “brosy” events, the specific weather con-
ditions are repeatedly mentioned in various sources including
books (Baltic Countries Mineral Industry Handbook, 2016; Finlay,
2006; Beck and Shennan, 1991; Atlas of geological and
environmental geological maps of the Russian area of the Baltic
Sea, 2010), web-sites (About amber, 2016; About Baltic amber,
2016; Amber and its gathering, 2015), news (Alekseev, 2015;
Pushkarskaya, 2015; Nuyakshev, 2014; Large beaching of amber in
Pionerskiy, 2016; The storm threw tons of amber and seaweed to
the coast of the Baltic Sea, 2013; Treasure hunters attacked the
Baltic coast scattered with amber, 2015; Privalov, 2016) and per-
sonal communications. All this information can be summarised as
follows.
(I) The events of extraordinarily massive “brosy” of large amber
pieces to the shore typically take place only several times
per year, after the strongest storms, which are usually
observed during “windy seasons” - autumn and especially
winter; spring and summer storms bring amber as well,
however exceptionally strong winds are rare during warm
seasons.
(II) Favourable are the situations when strong northerly or
westerly winds raise especially high waves.
(III) Duration of a storm is important: at least two-three stormy
days are necessary.
(IV) The last stage of development of the storm is the most
favourable: amber is washed up from the bottom of the Baltic
Sea only immediately after the storm, not during or a few days
later. This happens several hours after the beginning of wind
weakening, when winds are ceasing already e but the storm
is still vivid, and when waves are still high - but the sea
already begins to calm down.
(V) The event of “brosy” takes place not along the entire shore-
line, but only at certain separate (and quite random) lo-
cations (Fig. 5; photos in Supplement Material), where wind
is perpendicular to the shoreline. This way, most frequently it
happens at some place along the concave 20-km long
western fragment of the Kaliningrad shoreline from the
Vistula Spit to Yantarny (Fig. 5): closer to the spit under
northern or north-western winds, and closer to Yantarny
under western winds and winds with a south-western
component. The “brosy” may happen along the northern
Kaliningrad shore as well (from cape Taran to Zelenogradsk)
- when winds are from the north or north-west. The location
249
of amber “brosy” is not permanent even within one stormy
event.
(VI) Patches: amber stones arrive to the shore together with a
cloud of seaweed (especially e with red algae Furcellaria
lumbricalis), wooden sticks, and other suspended material.
This - quite compact - cloud suddenly rises from the bottom
in a separate spot a few kilometres (not specified in the
sources; approximately, 1e3 km, personal communication)
away from the shore, gets distributed throughout the entire
water depth, from the bottom to the surface, and drifts to-
wards the shore, where all the material is for some time kept
mixed-and-suspended in the swash zone or beached as a
patch of some 30e70 m long (e.g., see photos in the
Supplement Material). Sometimes, the main (the largest)
patch may be accompanied by 1e2 smaller ones, 400e500 m
apart, which contain mainly seaweed, almost without amber.
(VII) “The Baltic withdraws its treasures”: usual/every-day
experience shows that no amber is present on/in the beach
sands. A stormy seaweed patch in the swash zone may begin
drifting off-shore already in an hour or two; the shoaled
seaweed cloud may stay on the beach up to several days;
small (3e4 mm) amber crumbs washed out after moderate-
wind events can be found on the beach for about one day. In
accord with these time scales are investigations of agar-
containing Furcellaria lumbricalis: its beached mats are
shown to be carried back to the sea in 1e2 days (Kireyeva,
1960).
Here are selected only those specific features of meteorological,
hydrophysical, and topographical conditions corresponding to the
cases of “brosy” that are mentioned in several independent sources.
Below, we examine them from the point of view of physical
oceanography, aiming at prediction of the behaviour of plastic litter
and microplastic particles in the sea coastal zone.
3.3. Oceanographic analysis
Behaviour of particles in the sea coastal zone is one of the most
challenging problems in marine sciences, being both highly
complicated and utterly needed for a great variety of applications.
This way, analysis of the “natural case study” of amber “brosy” is
illuminating and informative. The authors are not aware of any
systematic investigation or interpretation of physical conditions
driving the amber migrations in the coastal zone. At the same time,
the collected information allows for suggestion of some answers on
why, how and from which depths the negatively-buoyant amber
stones are washed ashore.
3.3.1. Surface wave field
As follows from the items (I)-(III) listed above, the main physical
driver for massive “brosy” of large amber stones is a long-lasting
stormy wind of proper direction e perpendicular to the shore-
line: westerly/northerly winds for western/northern Sambian
shore, correspondingly (see Fig. 5). Characteristics of winds and
wave field in the Baltic Sea are well investigated (State and
Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008), and show that exactly these di-
rections offer the longest wind&wave fetch in the given area e as
long as 240e250 km (State and Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008)
(Fig. 5). So it is not surprising that especially high waves (II) are
developed. After several days of storm (III), surface waves in open
sea can be assumed already well-developed, and their length and
height can be estimated from their fetch. For the Baltic Sea, the
strongest stormy winds (wind speed more than 30 m s
1) generate
the highest (significant wave height H up to 7e8 m) and the longest
(wave length L up to 100-120-140 m) surface waves possible for this
250 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
region (State and Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008). Let us assume
these values as approximation of the “open-sea boundary condi-
tion” for the coastal zone. Conventionally, surface waves begin their
deformation due to shoaling when the depth, d, is about a half of
the wave length, L: d < 0.5 L. Thus, the “coastal zone” for the given
stormy situations begins from the depths of about 50e70 m.
Further shore-wards, water motions under propagating waves
become ellipsoidal, with longer and longer horizontal axis, until
they are transformed into reciprocating motion on the fore-beach
(Fig. 6). In particular, they suspend bottom material and cut the
branches of Furcellaria off the bottom boulders.
While approaching the shore, surface waves become shorter and
then break in the surf zone. The surf zone (Fig. 6) begins at the
depth of about d ~ 2H, which is about 15 m for the longest waves in
the considered case. Other stormy waves are breaking over depths
from 2H to (1e1.5) H, or from 15 to 2e3 m for various H (State and
Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 2008).
Thus, from the shore and to the 15 m-isobath, water is stirred by
breaking stormy waves, so that bottom sediments, growing at these
very depths tangles of Furcellaria lumbricalis, and marine flotsam
experience these energetic motions. The 15 m-isobath is only
3e5 km off-shore, while the amber-containing patches are said to
arise “a few kilometers” off-shore (VI). Overall, several independent
features e the breaking depth of the highest stormy waves, the
areal of growth of Furcellaria lumbricalis, the estimative distance to
the arising flotsam patches - point at the same depth range of
10e15 m from which the largest pieces of amber can be washed
ashore by exceptionally strong storms of proper direction.
3.3.2. Patchiness
Patchiness is quite a usual feature of hydrophysical, sedimen-
tological, biological and many other natural fields, and its spatial
and temporal characteristics may shed some light onto the un-
derlying processes. In the case of amber “brosy”, an obvious
compact flotsam patch is invariably described as the only source of
amber: amber is never washed ashore without seaweed or wet
wood. Large “brosy” (after severe storms) bring red Furcellaria; in
intermediate-scale events, the patch contains green algae (i.e., it
comes from shallower areas), and sometimes the Fucus vesiculosus
(which is nowadays absent in the area and is observed in “brosy”
patches only (Volodina and Gerb, 2013)). In the smallest cases of
washing-outs (like the one shown in Fig. 1) amber crumbs are
accompanied only by small wet wooden sticks. This does not
directly suggest, however, that larger amber stones are washed
from deeper areas. This rather shows that stronger storms bring the
algae from deeper parts - while amber could, in principle, be
entrained on the way, from any part of the underwater slope. With
Fig. 6. Surf zone of developed stormy waves in the region, depth range of growth of Furcellaria lumbricalis and trajectories of particles in wave-induced motions.
weaker winds (and waves), there are no currents strong enough to
transport larger pieces, even if they are not far from the shore.
In order to disclose the physical background, it is important to
grasp spatial scale of patches and their evolution with time. Ob-
servations show that sometimes during one storm several patches
can arrive to the shore (here or there, now or later). However
usually there is one patch at a time on the shore, which stays in the
swash zone for an hour or so e and then drifts back off-shore. The
location of amber “brosy” is not permanent even within one stormy
event, and is thus not related to bathymetry field or peculiarities of
the coastline. The length of the shore face, where seaweed and
amber are left on the beach, has a scale up to several hundreds of
metres, however the very patch in water is much smaller in
diameter e a few dozens of metres only, see, e.g., photos on the web
sites news (Alekseev, 2015; Catching of amber in the Baltic Sea,
2015) and in Supplement material. Video “The Patch” (in Supple-
ment material) and photo in Fig. 7, taken at the shore of the Vistula
Spit on 1 October 2016, show a quite typical episode after fresh
western winds of about 7e10 m s
1 and give an impression of these
scales. The very patch in water is ca. 15e20 m in diameter only,
which can be identified by the behaviour of birds: they are hunting
for fish, attracted by the cloud of seaweed, wood, and other bottom
material. At the same time, suspended algae of much lesser, but still
a considerable amount are present in the swash zone on both sides
of the patch (over about 200 m along the shore in the given case),
what can be seen on the video: the foam on the wave crests in
swash zone over these 200 m has a greenish shade, being white
farther to the right and farther to the left. This is a proxy of the scale
of the beached flotsam patch, which will be left on the shore after
the event and may often contain many small amber stones and
crumbs. Such a scale of the patchiness says in favour of two things:
(i) since the rest of the beach line is (relatively) clean, this is not just
an overall wind-wave mixing which is responsible for the flotsam
washing-out, and (ii) there is some mesoscale (not a large-scale)
process at work, which lifts the material from the bottom and
pushes it on-shore.
Supplementary video related to this article can be found at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.01.085
3.3.3. Roll structures
The next set of observational facts (IV-VI) says that the material
is washed ashore not during the storm e but right after it, and is not
just uniformly distributed along the shore, but gathered in quite
compact patches (see photos in Supplement Material, Fig. 7 and
video “The Patch” for example). What a mechanism could compact
(at 10e15 m depth) and lift from the bottom a cloud of (usually
sinking) amber stones, wooden sticks and algae, and then carry it
 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
Fig. 7. Patch of marine flotsam in coastal zone, marked by birds hunting for fish, and people waiting for amber washing-out from this patch. Note flattened sea surface stretching
off-shore from the patch location (slick), and two more slicks in deeper sea area (photo by I. Chubarenko; 01.10.2016).
onshore while stormy wind is weakening, but waves are still well
developed? Noteworthy details, not mentioned by observers or
publications, but grasped by the photo in Fig. 7 and in the video
“The Patch”, are also the flattened rows on the sea surface (the
so-called slicks), stretching from the area of the patch shoaling
towards the sea, and in deeper sea area. Near the shore, this
damping of small-scale surface waves is obviously due to the
floating algae. Farther in the sea, the slick rows may also indicate
just a water divergence at the surface, not necessarily containing
any floating material. (No oil spills, which potentially could look
alike, were detected in this area.)
Summarizing these two features e stage of wind weakening (IV)
and slick rows (Fig. 7) - we suggest that the most probable physical
mechanism could be the Langmuir circulation (LC): the coherent
system of large longitudinal rolls with their axes directed down-
wind, which arise due to instability of wind-induced current in
presence of the Stokes wave drift (Langmuir, 1938; Craik and
Leibovich, 1976; Thorpe, 2005) (Fig. 8). Other considered possible
alternative mechanisms, such as coastal fronts (for the Baltic Sea -
Leppa €ranta and Myrberg, 2008), rip currents (State and Evolution of
the Baltic Sea, 2008), convective exchange flows (Chubarenko,
2010; Chubarenko and Demchenko, 2010), do not provide proper
conditions for the observed features (I)-(VII). Indeed, commonly
formed longshore fronts are surface convergence/downwelling
zones, thus they cannot lift the material from the bottom; stormy
rip currents carry the material offshore, i.e., in the opposite direc-
tion; topography-originated currents would be associated with
certain permanent locations, but this is not observed.
The LC is a quite common phenomenon observed in large lakes,
seas, and oceans during windy weather. It is manifested by long
“windrows” of foam and algae at the water surface, associated with
the surface convergence zones, and slick lines in-between them,
indicating the surface water divergence (Langmuir, 1938; Craik and
Leibovich, 1976; Thorpe, 2005; Chubarenko et al., 2010; Dethleff
et al., 2009). It is known that rolls of the LC arise readily at wind
speeds of more than 5 m s
1 and persist at higher and higher winds
- until stormy mixing destroys their coherent structure (at more
than ca. 25 m s
1) (Thorpe, 2005; Leibovich, 1983). With the
“brosy”, we have an opposite case: stormy wind ceases (IV) e so
that still strong down-wind currents and complicated wave-
induced motions are now able to join in the 3D-roll-shaped circu-
lation, embracing the entire mixed-layer depth. Along with the
surface windrows and slick rows, this circulation implies
251
convergence/upwelling zones in the lower portion of the mixed
layer (see Fig. 8), where the flotsam, suspended by waves from the
underwater coastal slope, can be gathered and up-welled (V-VI).
This is just a mirror-like image to the surface windrows (Dethleff
et al., 2009).
Are the LC-associated upwellings physically able to lift amber
stones or microplastic particles from the bottom? The settling ve-
locity of microplastics (0.5e5 mm long) particles with close-to-
amber density of 1.05 g cm
3 varies between 1 and 5 cm s
1
(Chubarenko et al., 2016), while the maximum upwelling velocity
in LC under moderate winds is reported (Leibovich, 1983) to be
1e1.5 cm s
1. In a highly turbulent sea after the storm the currents
are obviously much stronger. Large-scale horizontal water trans-
port within the LC-upwelling zones is directed down-wind, so that
the lifted patch is to be beached at the shore directly exposed to it
(V). Thus, the LC is physically able to compact a seaweed cloud with
amber and plastics, lift it from the bottom and transport to the
shore line. Assuming the LC-nature of the observed flotsam
patchiness and knowing the separation between the upwelling
zones in-between Langmuir rolls for the given situation, one can
estimate the distance between the slick rows. Taking the depth-to-
width ratio of an individual cell (Leibovich, 1983) as about D/
W~1.3÷3, noting from the above analysis that D should be at least
15e20 m in order to lift the seaweed/amber from the bottom, we
arrive at the minimum spacing between upwelling zones of order
of 100 m. Since (i) these zones, resulting from instability of wind-
induced current in the presence of surface wave transport, are
inherently different in intensity and (ii) regions of stony bottoms
favourable for the Furcellaria grows and amber settling are
dispersed e the patchiness of the beached clouds (VI) looks just
natural. By geometrical reasons, the re-suspension of the bottom
material by the LC-mechanism should take place at some distance
from the shore, which agrees well with field evidence (V-VI).
Shoaling of the LC may modify the row spacing; however, this
process has not been yet investigated.
In general, either instability of currents due to wind-wave
interaction or other generating mechanism is at work, the roll
structures in the upper layer of the sea seem to be responsible for
the observed phenomenon.
4. Conclusions: Projection to microplastics behaviour
Annoying presence of microplastics everywhere in nature
252 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
Fig. 8. Probable mechanism of formation and on-shore transport of subsurface patches of slightly negatively buoyant seaweed, amber and marine litter: compaction and lift of
floating near-bottom material and Furcellaria, cut off from sparse rocks by stormy wave motions, is due to upwellings in-between the cells of the Langmuir circulation.
causes much anxiety, which is multiplied due to severe lack of
knowledge on its behaviour, especially in marine environment.
Unexpectedly, an impressive natural “case study” e the phenom-
enon of “brosy” of Baltic amber after severe storms e provides a
unique source of valuable information to this end: it allows to point
out the most important physical factors and to suggest the mech-
anisms driving migrations of plastics in the sea coastal zone.
Even though the sources of amber and plastics are different -
amber enters water body from the “blue clay layer” of bottom
sediments, and plastics mainly arrive from the coasts e they have
similar densities and analogous transport properties. With present-
day limited experience on MPs behaviour in the sea (Thompson,
2015; Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012; Andrady, 2011; Ivar do Sul and
Monica, 2014; Chubarenko et al., 2016; Ivar do Sul et al., 2009;
Woodall et al., 2014), we, nevertheless, have already found some
common features with those of amber. Being slightly heavier than
water, both amber and plastics are able to migrate quite easily in
marine environment, and in both cases the location of initial source
is proved to be not too important. Both kinds of particles are
washed ashore: the largest pieces e only after most vivid storms,
whilst MPs and few-mm-long amber crumbs begin beaching after
just fresh gales (Fig. 1).
One more similarity follows from the examination of state of the
beached plastic wreckage: plastic pieces on (soft) sandy beaches
have severe mechanical damages and bio-fouling that suggests
their long residence among stones in deep sea (i.e., relatively far
from these beaches, at depths more than 5e7 m), see Fig. 3.
Another physically based argument may have some value here.
The main sources of plastics seem to be located at the coastlines
(Thompson, 2015; Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012; Andrady, 2011). In
deep-sea bottom silts only tiny fibres - of all the kinds of plastic
pollution -, are commonly reported to be in abundance (Thompson,
2015; Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012; van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013;
Lusher et al., 2015; Obbard et al., 2014; Andrady, 2011; Woodall
et al., 2014). This is again in line with the behaviour of amber: we
did not meet any information that amber pieces were ever found
below 50e60 m depth in the Baltic Sea. When integrated with the
analysis of the features (I-VII) above, this means that amber and
non-buoyant plastics migrate between the coastline and certain
depth on underwater slope, driven by surface waves action and
stronger currents in coastal zone. During calm weather periods,
they are deposited there since e as long as they are still large - there
are no bottom currents to carry them farther off-shore. This sug-
gests an existence of a “plastic rim” around the deeper sea area.
Considering the behaviour of amber pieces as a physically
equivalent example for negatively buoyant plastic fragments and
pellets, we may conclude that the MPs have a long and complicated
“afterlife” within quite a limited depths range in-between coasts
and the deep sea, being retained in the area of surface wave
transformation and coastal currents which are able to transport and
re-deposit them (Fig. 9). Thrown on the beach, non-buoyant plas-
tics are soon captured by waves and carried seaward (and along the
coast) as far as stormy currents can retain and carry them. Since
non-buoyant macro-pieces tend to sink faster than smaller ones,
and wind-wave currents weaken with the distance from the shore
e they settle at some (hydrodynamically prescribed) depth, still in
the area of deformation of surface waves. Later, with some other
storm, they seem to be further damaged and re-deposited within
the sea coastal zone. They are also able to come back upslope (to the
swash zone and the shore line) with some ceasing storm -e to be
further mechanically destroyed and UV-degraded, and washed to
the sea again and again during the next wind event e until
microplastic pieces will be small and light enough to leave the
coastal zone with stormy currents and be deposited in the deeper
sea, out of reach of stormy waves. Synthetic fibres, found every-
where in deep sea sediments, seem to be an example of such easily-
transported MPs. Fig. 9 illustrates the described cycle in more
detail, showing also bottom deformations in coastal zone due to the
storm action: equilibrium sandy bottom profiles (Dean and
Dalrymple, 2001; Van Rijn, 2012; Chardo n-Maldonado et al.,
2015) during fair-weather conditions, under developing and un-
der weakening stormy waves. This way, negatively buoyant plastic
objects should repeatedly migrate up- and down-slope within the
coastal zone, composing the “plastic rim” along the shore and
exporting only very small particles (from our experience - fibres
and small film flakes (Zobkov and Esiukova, 2017)) towards the
deep-sea area.
The overall conclusion is that the main, critical factors for
plastics migrations in the sea coastal zone are the wind speed and
direction (fetch), wave heights, the exposure of the shore to the
 I. Chubarenko, N. Stepanova / Environmental Pollution 224 (2017) 243e254
Fig. 9. Scheme of migrations of beach plastics in the sea coastal zone, driven by windy/stormy events: fragmentation, suspension and off-shore transport under developing stormy
conditions versus deposition and on-shore move when wind weakens.
wind, and the phase of wind development/attenuation. It is
important to note that the presented analysis points on physical
factors which are applicable to any kind of the shore in any sea/
ocean, while amber stones and sandy sediments of the Baltic “case
study” only illuminate the results of wind&wave forcing.
An ecological point is also worth noting here. The red algae
Furcellaria lumbricalis, which seems to be directly involved in the
plastics migration process in the Baltic Sea, is also an important
habitat-forming seaweed: its underwater “belts” provide spawning
habitat for many fish species, and for this reason some govern-
ments even place regulations on the harvesting of this seaweed.
This danger of presence in marine environment of plastics in gen-
eral and microplastics in particular had not been disclosed before
the presented analysis. May “amber tears of Heliades” help us to
cope with “plastic tears” of our civilization.
Author contributions
NS collected historical and web information, prepared illustra-
tions and videos. ICh performed the analysis and wrote the paper.
The authors discussed and agreed on the results.
Author information
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
253
Acknowledgment
Investigations of physical and dynamical features of marine
microplastics particles are supported by the Russian Science
Foundation (project MARBLE, grant number 15-17-10020). The
authors express sincere thanks to Andrey Krylov, Boris Chubarenko,
Denis Smeshko, Sergey Isachenko for sharing their experience with
amber washing-outs. Margarita Bagaeva kindly provided English
language assistance. We would like to thank the anonymous re-
viewers for their helpful and constructive comments that greatly
contributed to improving the presentation of the material.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.01.085.
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