A study published in Microplastics has highlighted the presence of microplastics in deep karst caves connected to the Timavo river system, one of the main underground water systems in the Alpine-Dynaric area. The research shows that even extreme and uninhabited environments are not isolated from anthropogenic pollution.

The analyses confirm that the presence of microplastics in the Timavo system was consistent with what is already known for surface-connected river environments: the study’s contribution lies in clarifying how these particles are distributed in underground water systems, revealing marked spatial variability even over short distances.

The study was carried out by the University of Trieste, in collaboration with the Adriatic Society of Speleology, the Municipality of Trieste and the Bioscience Research Center (BsRC), a centre specialised in microplastics. 

Sampling was carried out in rarely accessible environments, including Maucci Cave, which can only be reached via cave diving, and Luftloch cave, discovered only recently after decades of exploration. 

The study was carried out by Raffaele Bruschi, a researcher at the University of Trieste and responsible for sampling and analysis, together with professors Manuela Piccardo, Monia Renzi and Stanislao Bevilacqua from the Department of Life Sciences at UniTS and Lucia Gardossi from the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. For the BsRC, Tecla Bentivoglio and Serena Anselmi were involved.

The research is dedicated to Patrice Cabanel, 32, (Fédération Française d’Études et de Sports Sous-Marins), an experienced cave diver who carried out the sampling at Maucci Cave.  Cabanel sadly disappeared a month after the sampling.

A second methodological study, published in Environmental Pollution https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127208 and developed in collaboration with Manuela Piccardo, addresses the strategies necessary to properly study highly heterogeneous underground environments.