Researcher Fernanda Avelar Santos holds “plastic rocks” found on Trindade Island in the state of Espirito Santo. Photo: Reuters
There are few places on Earth as isolated as Trindade island, a volcanic outcrop a three- to four-day boat trip off the coast of Brazil.
So geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos was startled to find an unsettling sign of human impact on the otherwise untouched landscape: rocks formed from the glut of plastic pollution floating in the ocean.
Santos first found the plastic rocks in 2019, when she travelled to the island to research her doctoral thesis on a completely different topic – landslides, erosion and other “geological risks.”
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