Plastic Trash Forming Into "Plastiglomerate" Rocks

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Plastic Trash Forming Into "Plastiglomerate" Rocks

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 4, 2014 @02:04PM from the earth-plus-plastic dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes 'Plastic may be with us a lot longer than we thought. In addition to clogging up landfills and becoming trapped in Arctic ice, some of it is turning into stone. Scientists say a new type of rock cobbled together from plastic, volcanic rock, beach sand, seashells, and corals has begun forming on the shores of Hawaii. The new material--which the researchers are calling a "plastiglomerate"--may be becoming so pervasive that it actually becomes part of the geologic record.'

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UV by tekrat · 2014-06-04 14:08 · Score: 5, Insightful

Riddle me this batman... UV light breaks down plastic, I've witnessed it every time I restore a car, or an old computer. All the plastic becomes brittle, breaks down, and eventually crumbles to plastic dust... Why doesn't this happen to the plastic in the ocean -- and everywhere else?

--
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
1. Re: UV by GreyLurk · 2014-06-04 14:13 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The plastic dust is probably what makes up the Plastiglomerate
2. Re:UV by russotto · 2014-06-04 14:20 · Score: 1
  
  These conglomerates are made of burned plastics. UV will likely break them down eventually (by "eventually" I mean "much less than geological time").
  Plastic in the ocean does the same thing.
3. Re:UV by mlts · 2014-06-04 14:23 · Score: 1
  
  I just wonder how long it will be until some microbe evolves that can chew on polymers, breaking them up into something digestible.
4. Re:UV by Jeremy+Erwin · 2014-06-04 14:25 · Score: 1
  
  So geologists can't use this a marker for the Anthropocene? They'll have to use subway tunnels instead?
5. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 14:46 · Score: 0
  
  +1
6. Re:UV by bmo · 2014-06-04 14:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  >microbes eating plastic
  You're not the only one to ask that question.
  http://www.goodreads.com/book/...
  I picked that book up in the 70s and the story sorta stuck with me. Worth the read.
  --
  BMO
7. Re:UV by tlhIngan · 2014-06-04 17:13 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Riddle me this batman... UV light breaks down plastic, I've witnessed it every time I restore a car, or an old computer. All the plastic becomes brittle, breaks down, and eventually crumbles to plastic dust... Why doesn't this happen to the plastic in the ocean -- and everywhere else?
  Most of the plastic IS the dust - the big plastic garbage patch is made up of really tiny pellets after the big chunks have broken down.
  And what's happening looks like the plastic is breaking down and the pieces are starting to glob together forming some strange multi-material piece of plastic.
  Of course, once the dust gets small enough, the breakdown has to happen by UV only. In a big chunk, the plastic becomes brittle and the wave action helps break it down further, but once it's dust, it's too small for mechanical breakdown.
8. Re: UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 17:37 · Score: 1
  
  Buy a shovel.
9. Re:UV by TapeCutter · 2014-06-04 18:36 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It does, eventually, all depends on the type of plastic and is heavily dependent on the time it takes antibacteial agents within the plastic to break down. It's been known for quite some time that there does not seem to be any surface anywhere on the planet that does not have some microscopic plastic dust sprinkled on it. What these guys have noticed is that recent formations of sandstone/mudstone(?) contain plastic dust. To paraphrase the great Carlin, "The Earth doesn't care, it just incorporates palstic into a new paradigm - The Earth plus plastic."
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
10. Re:UV by TapeCutter · 2014-06-04 18:43 · Score: 1
  
  They were routinely adding antibacterial agents to nylon when I worked in a nylon spinning plant back in the 80's. I think the practice goes back to the 50's or 60's.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
11. Re: UV by jandersen · 2014-06-04 19:46 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  This may be an interesting parallell to what happened during the Carboniferous era, when apparently plant matter didn't rot away until the fungi evolved the ability to break down lignin. As a matter of fact, there are a few fungi that are able to attack some kinds of plastic too.
12. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 20:11 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe, if the UV can get through all the rock, sand, and coral surrounding the plastic. The problem with the "breaks down" solution is everything that it harms in the process of getting "broken down" to nothing. We'll be seeing a lot more about this as nanotech expands. Got children?
13. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 20:13 · Score: 0
  
  How harmful is it in the concentration we are talking about?
  Will I ingest more of it in a lifetime than I will when I stand next to a CNC-mill for an hour?
14. Re:UV by Stuarticus · 2014-06-04 20:32 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I don't get it, metal rusts I've seen it on my car all the time, how can there be metal in rocks? You can't explain that.
  
  --
  If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
15. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 20:54 · Score: 0
  
  The very fact that plastic breaks down at all, even in dark environments, shows that there are at least some microbes that munch on chain polymers. In fact there is research taking place right now to create artificially enhanced bacteria, that will go munching through plastic pollutants and eventually the plastic solids itself
16. Re:UV by The123king · 2014-06-04 21:13 · Score: 1
  
  If your ingesting the shavings from a CNC-mill, you're doing it wrong
  
  --
  If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
17. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 23:37 · Score: 1
  
  Bacteria have evolved to deconstruct plastic (http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.191.html).
18. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 23:44 · Score: 0
  
  And they'll evolve to either be resistant or consume those as well.
19. Re: UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 00:42 · Score: 0
  
  All metals come from the earth. They are mined from rocky deposits as ore. When they are processed the result changed their elemental structure. Many rocks have iron in them. The iron and steel you see is rusting by a chemical reaction called oxidation only possible after the changes brought about by our processing.
20. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 01:03 · Score: 0
  
  Riddle me this batman... UV light breaks down plastic, I've witnessed it every time I restore a car, or an old computer. All the plastic becomes brittle, breaks down, and eventually crumbles to plastic dust... Why doesn't this happen to the plastic in the ocean -- and everywhere else?
  And what happens to the plastic dust?
21. Re:UV by alta · 2014-06-05 01:13 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sure the plastic that's exposed is broken down but...
  1. This article is mostly about plastic that's melted in beach campfires along with a bunch of other crap. If the UV rays are only hitting the surface of the plastic it's not going to break down the crap inside.
  2. Stuff floating in the ocean only has a little bit exposed to the UV Rays. Most of it is going to be underwater. Even if it rolls around in the waves what spends times exposed is going to be much less than something sitting stationary getting hit by the sun.
  
  --
  Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
22. Re: UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 01:44 · Score: 0
  
  They are.
  A lot of them get ground up by streams and rivers, which lays the resulting sand/sediment in layers - which get compressed by continental drift forming sandstone...
  Granite is a volcanic rock - it just never made it to the surface before it cooled. As are diamonds. And flint.
  Obviously you didn't check :)
23. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 01:46 · Score: 0
  
  Some rocks also break down in UV - mostly from heat and uneven cooling in MUCH less than geological time (like 3 years or less).
24. Re:UV by gizmo2199 · 2014-06-05 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  I think it has to do with the fact that the plastic trash melts either by campfires or lava and can't be carried by the wind or water, so it gets buried, thus no sunlight. This buried melted plastic gets fused with sand and coral to form a stone.
  
  --
  This Sig does not Exist.
25. Re:UV by lagomorpha2 · 2014-06-05 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  They were routinely adding antibacterial agents to nylon when I worked in a nylon spinning plant back in the 80's. I think the practice goes back to the 50's or 60's.
  Was that to protect the nylon from bacteria or to prevent bacteria from hanging around on the nylon and infecting whoever wears it next?
26. Re: UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 05:09 · Score: 0
  
  True and funny!
27. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 00:01 · Score: 0
  
  Those researchers talk about molten plastic that mixes with stones and sea shells and sinks to the bottom of the sea, where it's dark and cold. They also speculate that when the plastic is later compressed and heated, and either be reduced to something like oil or a simple carbon film (in the shape of a plastic bottle...)
28. Re:UV by doccus · 2014-06-06 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  Well, they have them for crude oil, and plastics are made of oil. It's a certainty. The question is, what will the metabolites be? We can't assume that they would definitely be harmless..
29. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 04:55 · Score: 0
  
  can you feed the dust into 3D printers?
30. Re: UV by shonangreg · 2014-06-06 08:15 · Score: 2
  
  You don't need continental drift to make sandstone. You get sandstone from accumulating sediments and the pressure and heat that accompanies the increasing depth of deposition. Continental drift can later raise these rocks to the surface where erosion begins to expose the sandstone, but the compression itself is not due to such.
31. Re:UV by Optali · 2014-06-06 08:35 · Score: 1
  
  EVer heard about a stuff called sand? Or soil and dirt? Mud? No? Well, never mind.
  
  --
  -- 29A the number of the Beast
32. Re:UV by Optali · 2014-06-06 08:40 · Score: 1
  
  And if there are enough of them there will maybe some predators speciallised on them and some may even use the plastics for things like float ability or organs!!! I have read a lot of articles about how the animals of the future may come to look like, but none ever thought on adding the massive amount of plastics, metals and others stuff we are adding to the ecosystem. Crap, I need a time machine. Now!
  
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  -- 29A the number of the Beast
33. Re:UV by Optali · 2014-06-06 09:08 · Score: 1
  
  The degradation of plastic material is a slow process that can occur mechanically, chemically (thermo- or photo-oxidative), and to a lesser degree, biologically (Kulshreshtha, 1992; Shah et al., 2008; Cooper and Corcoran, 2010). The persistence of plastic in the environment has been estimated to be in the range of hundreds to thousands of years, although longevity can increase in cool climates and where material is buried on the ocean bottom or under sediment (Gregory and Andrady, 2003). A recent study examining the accumulation of marine ocean debris at depths of 25–3971 m over a 22-year period shows that 33% of all debris in Monterey Bay, California, USA, is composed of plastic litter (Schlining et al., 2013). Similar results from other localities reveal that much of plastic debris is below
  the water surface (Goldberg, 1997; Galgani et al., 2000; Keller et al., 2010). This debris may be composed of high-density plastics or low-density plastics with fouled surfaces (Ye and Andrady, 1991; Goldberg, 1997; Gregory, 2009; Lobelle and Cunliffe, 2011). Given the low water temperatures and decreased exposure to UV light at greater depths within and below the photic zone, sunken plastic debris has good potential to persist and eventually form part of the rock record. On beaches, plastic debris, such as resin pellets, fragments, and expanded polystyrene up to 11 mm in size, may be preserved within the upper 5 cm of beach sediment (Kusui and Noda, 2003). Claessens et al. (2011) identified microplastics in beach sediment cores at depths down to 32 cm. In addition, Fisner et al. (2013), in their study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in pellets, were able to locate plastic debris at sediment depths as great as 1 m. However, we found no visible loose plastic fragments at depths >10 cm in sand on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii. Given the beach’s constant exposure to the northeasterly trade winds, much of the small ( http://www.geosociety.org/gsat...
  So, you don't need to go back to the article.
  And yes, I agree: It's all a scam to tax the poor American tax payer and Climate does not exist.
  
  --
  -- 29A the number of the Beast
34. Re: UV by Optali · 2014-06-06 09:13 · Score: 1
  
  I don't get it; sarcasm is in the dictionary I read it many times. How can there be sarcasm in Stuarticus' comment? Can you explain that?
  
  --
  -- 29A the number of the Beast
35. Re:UV by Optali · 2014-06-06 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  And the fact hat plastic is broken down doesn't mean that the polymers will just dissapear into another universe, the chains may get shorter and some may degrade into (complex) hydrocarbons that they will still be here. And PVC does actually NOT degrade with UV light.
  
  --
  -- 29A the number of the Beast
36. Re:UV by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:20 · Score: 1
  
  And do the first nanobots evolved themselves, putting an end to the theory that the ancestors of our robot species were created by humanity, and thereby eliminating any moral debt and paving the way for us to eventually eliminate them in the year 2065.
  
  --
  Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
37. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 09:39 · Score: 0
  
  Riddle me this batman... UV light breaks down plastic, I've witnessed it every time I restore a car, or an old computer. All the plastic becomes brittle, breaks down, and eventually crumbles to plastic dust... Why doesn't this happen to the plastic in the ocean -- and everywhere else?
  It does break down into tiny particles, where it then is reformed into "plastiglomerate", along with salt and sand due to the repetitive motions in the ocean.
38. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 10:43 · Score: 0
  
  it does into tiny plastic fibers which then gets into the food cycle say hello plastic fiber
39. Re:UV by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 10:51 · Score: 0
  
  I still have a galley proof copy and remember watching it (It was the pilot episode of a series called doomwatch)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-dx6ikyp5I
Only one picture - nfm by ghn · 2014-06-04 14:08 · Score: 1

Only one picture - nfm
1. Re:Only one picture - nfm by GigaplexNZ · 2014-06-04 16:10 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The first link contained one picture with a subsequent link to a PDF containing more pictures. The second link contained multiple subsequent links which have multiple pictures.
2. Re:Only one picture - nfm by KlomDark · 2014-06-05 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  Nebraska Furniture Mart??
standardized fossil record by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 14:13 · Score: 1

available in 2 liter, 1 liter, 20/16/12 oz. for your convenience.
Don't Miss the Rush... by Stormy+Dragon · 2014-06-04 14:16 · Score: 4, Funny

Now is the time to start buying mining rights for all that valuable plastic ore.
1. Re:Don't Miss the Rush... by DigiShaman · 2014-06-04 15:18 · Score: 1
  
  I think you will burn more in fuel then you would get back in crap-plastic.
  
  --
  Life is not for the lazy.
2. Re:Don't Miss the Rush... by nani+popoki · 2014-06-05 01:20 · Score: 1
  
  Except that the beaches in Hawaii are considered public land -- nobody owns them and access to the seashore must be granted by owners of abutting property.
3. Re:Don't Miss the Rush... by Dogtanian · 2014-06-05 08:45 · Score: 1
  
  Now is the time to start buying mining rights for all that valuable plastic ore.
  "That plastic 'ore"?! I don't think that Katie Price is for sale at the moment...
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Our age will be known as... by guygo · 2014-06-04 14:17 · Score: 5, Funny

The Plasticene.
1. Re:Our age will be known as... by durrr · 2014-06-04 16:29 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I think The Obscene will capture the spirit better.
2. Re:Our age will be known as... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 16:58 · Score: 0
  
  Yes children, beeeljuns and beeljuns of eons ago, our forefathers (and us) chucked our plastic cups, plates and gadgets into the environment. After several beejuns and beeljunsor eons they were transformed into ROCK! We know their age by the fossils found in these rocks, and date the fossils by the rocks ... oh, wait - rocks made in a few short years, not beeljuns and beeljuns of pseudo-science eons. Oops.. (ducks)
3. Re:Our age will be known as... by BigZee · 2014-06-04 20:48 · Score: 2
  
  I presume the next layer after this one will be shoes
  http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/w...
George Carlin was Right! by R3d+M3rcury · 2014-06-04 14:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

The Earth wanted plastic.
1. Re:George Carlin was Right! by retroworks · 2014-06-04 22:12 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Parent link George Carlin (Q:"Why are we here?" A:"Plastic, asshole.") routine was insightful. Reporting on environmental problems needs to better distinguish between serious harms like habitat loss and species extinction, resource conservation issues (one generation using everything up - like fresh water - disadvantaging later human generations), and what researchers call "fetishizing". The "fetish" is used when people are made to feel guilty about something (e.g. "waste") and continue to attach guilt and responsibility to the item based not on risk but on past human ownership. This can lead to regulations which disadvantage recycling (secondary copper smelters), secondary markets (e.g. used display devices and cell phones) disproportionately to the risk.
  There are some interesting academic papers on environmental fetishes and untended consequences of fixations based on previous human 'ownership' and 'guilt association'. Many environmentalists are scientists and are aware of the 'quasi-religion' of moral risk association, but are afraid to speak openly about it the same as the Renaissance's great thinkers were afraid to publicly pose their doubts about Christianity. The philosophers doubted much about sources of Christian ethics but were concerned about replacing it with anarchy. Scientific environmentalists have similar concerns about exposing "fetish" environmentalism without discrediting actual moral progress on stewardship.
  
  --
  Gently reply
2. Re: George Carlin was Right! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 05:14 · Score: 0
  
  Sounds sexy
3. Re:George Carlin was Right! by lazybratsche · 2014-06-05 05:23 · Score: 2
  
  Do you have any links to those papers or related articles? I am intrigued, but I won't be searching for "environmental fetishes" on a work computer...
4. Re:George Carlin was Right! by retroworks · 2014-06-05 10:07 · Score: 2
  
  Mostly it comes from Marx, "commodity fetishism" (see wikipedia). Using the same concept Marx used to describe how the labor added value of goods and commodities are unseen but known and measurable. Similarly, in regulating an object which is "waste" or "discard" differently from the same material mined and smelted attaches a fetish, ignoring hidden environmental and economic costs of production a waste or secondary commodity. I learned the concept from papers by Josh Lepawsky and Ramzy Kahhat on electronic scrap, but it goes back at least to 2003 http://oae.sagepub.com/content..., or more recently by Graham Pickren of Univ of Georgia 2013 "Political ecologies of electronic waste: uncertainty and legitimacy in the governance of e-waste geographies"
  
  --
  Gently reply
Hey.... by roc97007 · 2014-06-04 14:25 · Score: 1

> some of it is turning into stone.
Recycling!

--
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
1. Re:Hey.... by aaron4801 · 2014-06-04 15:16 · Score: 2
  
  Carbon sequestration!
http://www.theoceancleanup.com by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 14:40 · Score: 0

The results of a feasibility study shows that we can cleanup the floating plastic in the north pacific gyre, hopefully that will reduce the amount of the plastic pollution in Hawaii
George Carlin called it by bunratty · 2014-06-04 14:44 · Score: 1

The planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm "The Earth plus Plastic." The planet isn't going away... we are!

--
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
1. Re:George Carlin called it by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 14:55 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  The planet isn't going away... we are!
  Let's hope so, and the sooner the better.
2. Re:George Carlin called it by Flozzin · 2014-06-04 15:16 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Get out of here. We are nature too. Just because we are self aware does not make us different. We evolved just like every other species. Beavers change their habitat too. Just we do it so much better. Self hating humans are the worst type. If you truly believe this then hopefully you made the choice to NOT have children.(as opposed to the forever alone basement dwellers where everyone else has made that choice for them)
  
  --
  "Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin." --Teddy Roosevelt
3. Re:George Carlin called it by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 20:16 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Ya, damn all you bastards for daring to save the human race from itself! We have every right to exterminate ourselves! I'm right behind you Flozzin!
4. Re: George Carlin called it by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 06:48 · Score: 0
  
  Honestly, I've made the choice of only having two children precisely because of these issues. I know you are being sarcastic, but we should start thinking on these lines indeed. Growth and sustainability are not compatible.
  And yes, I know two is not a solution, but at least it does not increase the problem... It has not been easy, my wife still wants a larger family.
5. Re:George Carlin called it by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 10:00 · Score: 0
  
  Earth put us here for a reason, maybe it was to wipe everything out or change everything to make way for its next phase. Unless we landed here as a bacteria on an asteroid and evolved into what we are and don't belong. I don't know, let's party!
6. Re:George Carlin called it by PhilHibbs · 2014-06-05 21:16 · Score: 1
  
  There's no reason for anything. Life is just a bunch of stuff that happens, and one day it might stop happening if something big enough hits the planet, like the one that made the moon.
7. Re:George Carlin called it by romons · 2014-06-06 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  Get out of here. We are nature too. Just because we are self aware does not make us different. We evolved just like every other species. Beavers change their habitat too. Just we do it so much better. Self hating humans are the worst type. If you truly believe this then hopefully you made the choice to NOT have children.(as opposed to the forever alone basement dwellers where everyone else has made that choice for them)
  Nature is pretty good at regulating species that get out of hand. However, I for one am not going to be happy when natural negative feedback, in the form of mass starvation and disease kick in. I would prefer if we used our main gift, our minds, to prevent the worst of that by anticipating and solving the problems well before they become extinction level.
  
  --
  Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company -- Mark Twain
8. Re:George Carlin called it by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:36 · Score: 1
  
  Not true! Life has a meaning and a purpose, which is to push its surroundings further down the road of entropy, thereby furthering the evolution of the universe along the complex path from big bang to heat death.
  
  --
  Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Our meaning is fulfilled by rolfwind · 2014-06-04 15:09 · Score: 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
I don't think they are rocks by Flozzin · 2014-06-04 15:12 · Score: 3, Insightful

How are these things rocks? We made them, then they melted. The grabbed onto rocks sure. But once you stick to a rock you become a rock? Rock's are minerals. I wasn't aware plastic is now considered a mineral? If I melt glass around a rock, can I call that a new type of rock? Or can I take super glue and glue some pebbles together and call that a new type of rock?

--
"Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin." --Teddy Roosevelt
1. Re:I don't think they are rocks by BradleyUffner · 2014-06-04 15:43 · Score: 1
  
  Do you consider coal to be a rock?
2. Re:I don't think they are rocks by jiriw · 2014-06-04 23:12 · Score: 1
  
  How are these things rocks? ... once you stick to a rock you become a rock? ... plastic is now considered a mineral? If I melt glass around a rock, can I call that a new type of rock? Or can I take super glue and glue some pebbles together and call that a new type of rock?
  Even if you DNRTFA....
  Apparently ... depends... in this form, yes... 2* yes, sort of...
  How did you think Sandstone and Shale are created... or Obsidian? What do you think Amber is? Just because it is ground up other stuff with nice fossils in it (Sandstone/shale), a kind of glass (Obsidian) or has a non-geological origin (tree resin in case of Amber) doesn't mean it can't become rock.
3. Re:I don't think they are rocks by danbert8 · 2014-06-05 02:21 · Score: 1
  
  Super-glue plus pebbles it a type of rock... It's called conglomerate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
  
  --
  Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
4. Re:I don't think they are rocks by russotto · 2014-06-05 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  If I melt glass around a rock, can I call that a new type of rock?
  There's already glass conglomerate minerals.
  
  Or can I take super glue and glue some pebbles together and call that a new type of rock?
  That would be a plastiglomerate, because cured cyanoacrylates are plastics.
5. Re:I don't think they are rocks by McFly777 · 2014-06-06 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  Considering that plastic is created by refining a mineral, in this case oil*, maybe it could be considered a mineral itself.
  *Petrolium oil, extracted from the earth as crude oil, as against vegatable oil, etc.
  
  --
  
  McFly777
  - - -
  "What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?" -Marilyn Pittman
6. Re:I don't think they are rocks by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  The best rock was produced in the 60s and 70s.
  
  --
  Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
7. Re:I don't think they are rocks by danbert8 · 2014-06-09 05:32 · Score: 1
  
  Rock Lobster? ROCK LOBSTER!
  
  --
  Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Humans by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 15:33 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Well done humans. Polluting everything. Great work.
You think you're going anywhere on a spaceship? You're already on one (Earth) that took zero effort to maintain, and you couldn't even manage that. You're going to be able to manage all the complex life support systems on a spaceship? Haha. Fools.
1. Re:Humans by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 16:22 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Wow, you are so wise. I wish the whole world could be as smart as you. That whole spaceship Earth thing, blew my mind! The way you've removed yourself, sort of transcended above the discussion like a celestial being looking whimsically down on an inferior race. I'm sure your coworkers appreciate your many (unsolicited) opinions on many topics.
2. Re:Humans by allcoolnameswheretak · 2014-06-05 00:13 · Score: 1
  
  Charlton Heston says it's ok for humans to condescend on humanity.
And neither does anyone else... by Y.A.A.P. · 2014-06-04 15:44 · Score: 5, Informative

Please, RTFA!
The scientists in this article are classifying the characteristics of a new heterogeneous material, which is a necessity as the time for breakdown of this material may make it a significant part of the fossil record.
The scientists are not saying it is a new form of rock. Only possibly the submitter or samzenpus are (mistakenly) saying this.
To repeat: RTFA, no new rocks here!
1. Re:And neither does anyone else... by Curunir_wolf · 2014-06-04 16:01 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Please, RTFA!
  You must be new here.
  
  --
  "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
  --- Jerry Garcia
2. Re:And neither does anyone else... by Flozzin · 2014-06-04 16:14 · Score: 1
  
  "stumbled upon the new rocks on a beach on the Big Island of Hawaii. These stones, which they’ve dubbed “plastiglomerates,”"
  I did rtf. It says new type of rock all over it.
  
  --
  "Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin." --Teddy Roosevelt
3. Re:And neither does anyone else... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 16:23 · Score: 1
  
  FTA:
  
  Here, we report the appearance of a new “stone” formed through intermingling of melted plastic, beach sediment, basaltic lava fragments, and organic debris from Kamilo Beach on the island of Hawaii.
  See figure 4 for, imho, the most descriptive pictures
4. Re:And neither does anyone else... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 17:11 · Score: 0
  
  I did rtf
  You read the newspiece reporting an academic paper, not the paper itself.
The defendant has been found guilty and... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 15:50 · Score: 0

is hereby sentenced to the Terran plastiglomerate mines for the term of his unnatural life.
Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 15:54 · Score: 1

Yeah this is controversial and will piss off all the hippies, but I think it's awesome how humans are affecting the ecosystem of earth. And years later, when we are gone and monkeys evolve again, these new intelligent animals will piece together the fact that there was once intelligent life here based on structures such as this.
1. Re:Awesome! by istartedi · 2014-06-04 17:05 · Score: 1
  
  And years later, when we are gone and monkeys evolve again, these new intelligent animals will piece together the fact that there was once intelligent life here based on structures such as this.
  No, years later when dinosaurs evolve again they'll assume that the substance is derived from dead mammals. Then the ultra-intelligent and efficient reptiles will dominate for another few million years, living lightly off the land such that vast swamps of plants that were never cut down produced oil so that the next mammal cycle has something to burn..
  
  --
  For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
2. Re:Awesome! by wagnerrp · 2014-06-04 18:12 · Score: 1
  
  We've only got one, or maybe two such cycles left before solar expansion pushes us outside the temperature range for life on this planet.
3. Re:Awesome! by GNious · 2014-06-04 18:42 · Score: 1
  
  Put some thrusters on earth, and fire prograde.
  (whattaya mean, "too much KSP"?!?)
4. Re:Awesome! by jandersen · 2014-06-04 19:59 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah this is controversial and will piss off all the hippies, but I think it's awesome how humans are affecting the ecosystem of earth.
  There isn't anything strange or awesome about a species affecting the ecosystem of Earth - the oxygen content of our atmosphere is largely due to cyanobacteria and the like. Apparently there is little on this planet that isn't affected to a significant extent by life - even things like land erosion and plate techtonics.
5. Re:Awesome! by allcoolnameswheretak · 2014-06-05 00:17 · Score: 1
  
  Charlton Heston says monkeys will inherit the Earth. Again.
6. Re:Awesome! by ColdWetDog · 2014-06-05 02:19 · Score: 1
  
  I'm worrying about getting my retirement account fully funded and you're worried about ... solar expansion?
  Go away.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
7. Re:Awesome! by wagnerrp · 2014-06-05 03:25 · Score: 2
  
  The OP was talking about another petroleum cycle to produce fuel for another round of intelligent organism to use. Hopefully your retirement plans are finalized before that several hundred million year process has completed.
8. Re:Awesome! by nani+popoki · 2014-06-05 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure mine will be. I write code for a living.
A new kind of by Tablizer · 2014-06-04 16:36 · Score: 2

Horta

--
Table-ized A.I.
Like organic things in dinosaur era by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-04 17:26 · Score: 4, Interesting

Does this mean that like organic things in dinosaur era which turned into petroleum in favorable conditions, these plasticrocks will turn to rock oil ?
1. Re:Like organic things in dinosaur era by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 02:23 · Score: 0
  
  Yes. Rock oil.
  I propose we use the Greek word for rock ("patra") combined with the Latin word for oil ("oleum") to name this. We shall call it "petroleum".
  As the plastic breaks down, it will turn back to petroleum, and these rocks will be rich in resources.
Iron Age...Plastic Age. by bussdriver · 2014-06-04 17:40 · Score: 1

I can see the history books... the Plastic Age, beginning in the the mid 20th century....
We really are in the plastic age. When everybody has a form of computer... guess that is the computer age--- although it's impact is not as deep as plastic yet... so does it count as an Age yet?? Iron Age changed everything... so I suppose computers were there around 2000? (remember world... but then the Iron Age began before it was world wide...)
Internet Age... are we at that yet? Seems these huge changes are happening quickly.
Sandstone... is that a kind of rock? it's a mix of sands.. and i bet this plastic rock is stronger.

--
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
1. Re:Iron Age...Plastic Age. by geekoid · 2014-06-05 03:04 · Score: 1
  
  Socially, we are in the information age.
  Economically, we are moving into the service age,
  Geologically possible the plastic age.
  Rock is a aggregate of materials. This could lead to a new classifications of rock; which will be interesting for out petrology friends.
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
2. Re:Iron Age...Plastic Age. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 06:02 · Score: 0
  
  Typically the "ages" refer to the primary building material.
  We've been in the "polymer age" for quite some time, but may be transiting to a "carbon age"/"diamond age" soon if grapheme and other carbon nan-structures ever manage to do the amazing things it's been speculated to be capable of.
Typical AAAS tripe by bradley13 · 2014-06-04 23:19 · Score: 2, Insightful

Here's the key phrase out of the abstract: "...melted plastic during campfire burning... [increases] the potential for burial and subsequent preservation". Why? Because lumps of melted plastic stick to sand or rocks, and hence are more likely to not blow away, be degraded by UV or whatever.
This is a topic for a scientific paper, and deem headline-worthy by the AAAS? I knew there was a reason I cancelled my membership a couple of decades ago...

--
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
1. Re:Typical AAAS tripe by ColdWetDog · 2014-06-05 02:27 · Score: 2
  
  You sure you didn't cancel your membership to the AARP?
  This was posted in the proceedings of the Geological Society of America, Not the American Academy for the Advance of Science (AAAS).
  * For those of you fine Slashdotters not of the American persuasion, the AARP used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons, likely to differentiate itself from the AAA, the American Automobile Association. Now it appears to be just called AARP.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
2. Re:Typical AAAS tripe by Kevin+by+the+Beach · 2014-06-05 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  We can lump this in with climate science and prove that mankind has no impact on the environment. /* snark snark */
3. Re:Typical AAAS tripe by cyn1c77 · 2014-06-05 16:49 · Score: 1
  
  You sure you didn't cancel your membership to the AARP?
  This was posted in the proceedings of the Geological Society of America, Not the American Academy for the Advance of Science (AAAS).
  * For those of you fine Slashdotters not of the American persuasion, the AARP used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons, likely to differentiate itself from the AAA, the American Automobile Association. Now it appears to be just called AARP.
  Spend more time fact checking and less time trying to prove people wrong:
  The first link in the article blurb above is to a headline on the AAAS website, which publishes the journal Science.
4. Re:Typical AAAS tripe by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:14 · Score: 1
  
  And then there's AA, which is another thing entirely.
  
  --
  Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Now Monty Python Makes Sense by moofo · 2014-06-05 00:35 · Score: 1

"What also floats in water?
- Bread. - Apples.
- Very small rocks. - Cider! Great gravy.
- Cherries. Mud. - Churches."
I knew that small rock would float one day !
They were visionary !

--
"I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary." Through the looking glass and what
1. Re:Now Monty Python Makes Sense by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-05 01:00 · Score: 0
  
  "What also floats in water?
  - Bread. - Apples.
  - Very small rocks. - Cider! Great gravy.
  - Cherries. Mud. - Churches."
  - Witches
  - Ducks
2. Re:Now Monty Python Makes Sense by Archwyrm · 2014-06-05 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  More witches!
  
  --
  Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Mussolini
Plastic melting Trend!!! by alex.taylor084 · 2014-06-05 00:53 · Score: 1

Current melting trends estimated that 1 trillion pieces of plastic could be released into the ecosystem in the next ten years.
global warming? by OrangeTide · 2014-06-05 02:40 · Score: 1

So instead of releasing the carbon into the atmosphere we're pissed off because now we have ugly rocks that are made of trapped carbon?
If this plastiglomerate can remain in the environment for eons, then I'm thinking we should make more of it, a lot more of it.

--
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
1. Re:global warming? by geekoid · 2014-06-05 03:08 · Score: 1
  
  To bad it uses more then it traps.
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
2. Re:global warming? by OrangeTide · 2014-06-05 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  it uses it therefor it traps. but I assume you meant the word "use" in some other way...
  we are pulling hydrocarbons from deep underground and if we continue to either burn it or allow it to decompose, it will become CO2 and contribute to the greenhouse effect. Anything that could sequester carbon long term is better than the nothing we are doing today.
  the eventual goal would be to stop pulling material out of the ground, and reverse the trend and put carbon back faster than we take it out. We're so far away from doing that that I don't believe there are any viable plans written up to accomplish it.
  
  --
  “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Perfect way to make our mark by AbhishekDeyDas · 2014-06-05 04:09 · Score: 1

And that's how we make our mark.... boo yaa....
Half Life did it first... by MrLint · 2014-06-05 05:49 · Score: 1

So HL2, came out in back in 2004 had this quote in it, from the character of Dr Breen : Are all the accomplishments of humanity fated to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud?
While certainly this is not a surprise consequence to anyone in a scientific field(s) involved. I find it somewhat ironic that the sentiment (no pun), showed up in a video game.
Only one? by BranMan · 2014-06-05 06:29 · Score: 1

Am I the only one that thought... Cool!
VHS Tapes and the Boomers by crunchygranola · 2014-06-05 07:48 · Score: 0

I always thought that they should build Boomer retirement communities out of all those VHS tapes that were sold to them during the 80s and 90s. Where are they now?

--
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
I don't think they are rocks by Anonymous Coward · 2014-06-06 07:46 · Score: 0

Actually I agree with the suggestion that these are rocks.
All loose material falls to ground, gets covered in time, and eventually compresses so greatly that it forms rock. There is a type of rock called a conglomerate, which is the base word for the invented plastiglomerate. Conglomerates explicitly are a type of rock made out of other rock types, at a macro scale. Really though, the basic process is simple and universal.
Even plant material eventually compresses sufficiently to form coal which is considered to be a rock.
ha anot exposed by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:12 · Score: 1

For years we've been hearing from environmentalists how our use of nondegradable plastics is cluttering up the environment, but here we see the truth; the earth is using these plastics to produce new fossil carbon, for future generations to use for fuel! And as a bonus this is a carbon sink to limit global warming! I look forward to the day when I can build a deck out of petrified engineered lumber.

--
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
the world's a can for your fresh garbage by gzuckier · 2014-06-06 09:25 · Score: 1

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k...

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.