Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' Is The Size Of Connecticut
- 10 years ago
Water pollution has caused a lot of devastation to the world’s oceans. The area in the Gulf of Mexico known as the dead zone, where oxygen levels are too low to support some kinds of aquatic life, is now about the size of Connecticut.
Water pollution has caused a lot of devastation to the world’s oceans.
The area in the Gulf of Mexico known as the dead zone, where oxygen levels are too low to support some kinds of aquatic life, is now about the size of Connecticut.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the dead zone runs for over five thousand square miles along the coast of Louisiana and part of Texas.
It is caused by excess nutrients like agriculture fertilizer and waste water flowing from the Mississippi River into the Gulf.
Water pollution increases algae blooms, which then consume the oxygen in deep parts of the ocean.
This creates low oxygen water called hypoxia, that kills off certain aquatic life in the food chain.
The dead zone appears during spring and summer, varying in size from year to year since it was first discovered in 1972.
Scientists set a goal of reducing the size of the dead zone to 19 hundred square miles by next year.
Although the dead zone is reportedly shrinking, Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium is quoted as saying: "There hasn't been any progress in reaching that goal. The number of dead zones throughout the world has been increasing in the last several decades and currently totals over 550."
Water pollution has caused a lot of devastation to the world’s oceans.
The area in the Gulf of Mexico known as the dead zone, where oxygen levels are too low to support some kinds of aquatic life, is now about the size of Connecticut.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the dead zone runs for over five thousand square miles along the coast of Louisiana and part of Texas.
It is caused by excess nutrients like agriculture fertilizer and waste water flowing from the Mississippi River into the Gulf.
Water pollution increases algae blooms, which then consume the oxygen in deep parts of the ocean.
This creates low oxygen water called hypoxia, that kills off certain aquatic life in the food chain.
The dead zone appears during spring and summer, varying in size from year to year since it was first discovered in 1972.
Scientists set a goal of reducing the size of the dead zone to 19 hundred square miles by next year.
Although the dead zone is reportedly shrinking, Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium is quoted as saying: "There hasn't been any progress in reaching that goal. The number of dead zones throughout the world has been increasing in the last several decades and currently totals over 550."