Micro-fibre content of South Africa's sandy beach sediments from 2016 to 2017

In 2016 and 2017 the Department of Environmental Affairs conducted sampling at more than 150 sandy beach sites along the South African coastline, to quantify the extent of micro-plastic pollution at an average spatial sampling scale of about 15 km. Most of the sites along the west coast were sampled 3 times, to investigate seasonal variability. The east and south coasts were sampled twice, during low and higher river runoff conditions, respectively. At all sites, plastic micro-fibres were found to be the dominant micro-plastic constituents present, and the quantitative data for that is presented in this dataset. One of the problematic issues related to comparison of global micro-plastic pollutant levels, presently, is the lack of agreed to measurement methodologies and reporting units. This dataset represents results for samples taken along the high-level water mark, as a composite sample of about 1 L consisting of aliquots taken from at least 3 different sampling spots, sampled to a depth of 5 cm. The micro-fibre count is reported as the number of fibres per liter (or #F/dm3). In order to convert this to other units for comparison with other studies, sediment dry bulk density measurements are included. Data is also provided for the dominant sediment grain size (fine sand is 63 to 250 µm, and medium-coarse sand 250 µm to 1 mm) , and the temperature and salinity of surf-zone water at the time of sampling.

2016至2017年间，南非环境事务部沿南非海岸线的150余个沙滩采样点开展了采样工作，以量化微塑料（micro-plastic）污染程度，空间采样平均尺度约为15千米。西海岸多数采样点重复采样3次，用以探究季节变化特征；东海岸与南海岸则分别在低径流和高径流河流条件下各开展1次采样，共计两次。
所有采样点均检出微塑料纤维（micro-fibres）为主要微塑料组分，本数据集收录了相关定量数据。
当前全球微塑料污染水平对比面临的核心难题之一，是尚未形成统一认可的测量方法与报告单位。
本数据集的采样均选取高潮位线处的样品，以约1升的混合样为统计单位，该混合样由至少3个不同采样点的等分试样组成，采样深度为5厘米。微塑料纤维计数以每升纤维数（或#F/dm³）为报告单位。
为便于转换单位以与其他研究成果对比，本数据集同时收录了沉积物干容重的测量数据。
此外，数据集还提供了采样时的优势沉积物粒径（细沙粒径范围为63~250微米，中粗沙粒径范围为250微米~1毫米），以及冲浪带水域的水温与盐度数据。