Five Stages Of Eutrophication In The Gulf Of Mexico

The Issue

Eutrophication is the process of a lake or pond absorbing and/or being fed with nutrient-rich run-off from streams around agricultural areas. Nutrients causes the growth of plankton and bacteria, hence the death of bottom-dwelling pond plants and fish. Eutrophication is occurring in coastal environments and affecting the fish and plants living beneath the algae. A place where this is occurring is the Gulf of Mexico, where there is little life beneath the surface.

Cause and Consequence

Overall, there are five stages of the process of Eutrophication. Stage 1 involves sewage, fertilizer and atmospheric pollutants being washed into lakes, this occurs by natural run-off and rainfall. Stage 2 is when the high levels or nitrates and phosphates

Plants for their growth absorb both nitrates and phosphates. Nitrates are a compound of nitrogen and phosphates are phosphorus compounds, most are produced by bacteria. The human use of detergents and chemical fertilizers has swiftly increased the amount of nitrates and phosphates that are washed into lakes. As this process occurs, the growth of the plants increase as they act like fertilizers for the plants and algae. Algae are plantlike organisms that live under and in the water and can produce their own food through photosynthesis. As further phosphates are added to water, the plants grow rapidly and the algae blooms. Both consume greater amount of oxygen in the water, stealing the vital oxygen of fish and other species. As the algae dies, oxygen is required by bacteria to decompose the dead algae, a cycle begins where more bacteria decomposes more dead algae, by doing so, consuming more oxygen. Hence the death of numerous

It was reported that Human activity had an impact on the water in river and streams, which run all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The presence of humans, both historical and ongoing, have added further major changes in the Gulf’s waters. The result of human activity is the unnatural high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Many would ask the question of what is the Gulf of Mexico is. It currently acts as a drainage zone for most of the rivers and streams in the Midwestern United States. The Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) holds water from 31 states making it the third-largest river basin in the world. Many nutrients (nitrogen) are led off into streams as runoff from agricultural fertilizers and sewage. The location that is at risk and is suffering stretches from the Mississippi River to the upper Texas coast. The zone’s region varies within 6,000 and 7,000 square miles. As of now, the Gulf Dead Zone is an area of the ocean where there is little oxygen meaning no life beneath the surface waters. The dead zone is designated in red of the picture