Just to hit the first point, the reason why hypereutrophic waters tend to have benthic dead zones is because they produce too much algae, which sink rather than being eaten and accumulates on the bottom. There it is degraded by bacteria, and this is the process that sucks up the oxygen.
Bill Silvert ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 5:06 PM Subject: Let's talk about the Gulf dead zone and water nutrients > I'm not a biologist. I confess I don't understand the fine points of the > problems related to the Gulf dead zone. The basic facts are pretty > clear. > There appear to be several places in the world where nutrients flowing > into the > ocean cause anoxic conditions near the ocean bottom. This can happen in > lakes and rivers too. This is a very odd circumstance, it seems to me. > Agriculture thrives on nutrients, generally applied by the farmer in some > way. If > nutrients are valuable when applied to the farmer's field, why must they > be so > bad in the water?
