Gulf of Mexico s dead zone larger than average this year news4jax.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news4jax.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The zone this year is about 6,334 square miles, an area slightly larger than the state of Connecticut.
A dead zone occurs at the bottom of a body of water when there isn t enough oxygen in the water to support marine life.
This summer s dead zone is about three times times larger than the goal a task force of state and federal agencies set in 2001.
The annual Gulf of Mexico dead zone – a region of oxygen-depleted water off the Louisiana and Texas coasts that s harmful to sea life – is larger-than-average this summer, federal scientists from NOAA announced in a report released Tuesday.
The area of low to no oxygen, which kills fish and other marine life that fail or are unable to move out of the area, exceeds the average 5,400 square miles recorded over the past five years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
The dead zone is caused mainly by fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms and cattle pastures that flows down the Mississippi River, scientists say. The pollution, which scientists refer to as “nutrients,” stimulates an overgrowth of algae, which sinks and decomposes, depleting the Gulf waters of oxygen. Fish and other marine organisms unable to escape those waters die.
Gulf of Mexico dead zone 10 times bigger than Lake Pontchartrain ktbs.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ktbs.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Scientists Warn Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico Grows Larger Every Year natureworldnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from natureworldnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.