"Plastic rocks" discovered on a remote island terrify scientists
Shocking discovery: Discovered on a remote island with little human influence, plastic rocks reveal just how serious we've come.
Molten plastic has been discovered to have penetrated deep into rocks on a remote island of Brazil. Trinidade Island has long been a place of interest to scientists. But the discovery of plastic rocks, where plastic fishing nets melt into rocks, has many scientists questioning how far-reaching humanity's impact on Earth's geological cycles is.
Trinidade Island may be a remote island in Brazil, but it's not a forgotten place. This island is one of the most important conservation points for green turtles and every year thousands of creatures come to the island to lay their eggs. Therefore, the only inhabitants of this island are the Brazilian navy, which has a base and helps protect the turtles. The discovery of rocks containing plastic is alarming due to the lack of human intervention.
Fernanda Avelar Santos, a geologist at the Federal University of Parana, told Reuters that the place where the plastic molten rock was discovered is a "permanently protected area in Brazil." Also, this plastic comes mostly from fishing nets, a common type of debris found on Trinidade's beaches. But when the temperature rises, the nets seem to melt inside the rocks, creating strange plastic rocks.
The discovery has enabled scientists to examine how widespread humanity's heritage on Earth is and how that heritage affects geological situations, such as the conservation of important animals such as green turtles, Santos told Reuters. As humanity continues to dump garbage into the oceans, it is putting the lives of various animals in the oceans at high risk. These plastic rocks are another example of how things go wrong.
If we really want to make a difference and preserve Earth's geological record, we need to start treating our world better. It's a bigger issue than simply controlling how much greenhouse gases we emit and how we affect the Earth's ongoing climate change crisis. These plastic rocks are a big warning sign; A warning that our trajectory will continue to negatively impact Earth's geological record for years to come.
