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Streambed Biofilm Microplastic Trap

Watch microplastic particles drift down a 3D streambed and get captured by biofilm growing thick in slow pools while passing straight through the fast channel — then trigger a storm and watch it all scour loose and pulse downstream.

Ecology & Conservation Biology3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water 💨 Air & Wind 🌍 Earth

Rivers don't flush suspended microplastic straight downstream — the sticky biofilm mat coating rocks and sediment in slow pools grabs and holds a disproportionate share of it, while the same particles pass largely untouched through fast, scoured channel sections. This simulation grows biofilm over a 3D streambed at a rate set by local flow speed, drifts microplastic particles downstream through the flow field, captures them probabilistically wherever biofilm has thickened, and lets you trigger a storm event that scours the mat and its trapped load loose as a downstream pulse — with live biofilm coverage, per-zone trapped totals and downstream flux readouts.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch microplastic particles drift down a 3D streambed with fast and slow-flow zones, get progressively captured by biofilm that thickens in slow pools while passing through the bare fast channel largely uncaught, then trigger a storm and watch the biofilm — and its trapped microplastic load — scour loose and pulse downstream.

microplasticsbiofilmfreshwater ecologystreambedriver pollutionscoursediment transport

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install