Science · 6 pages · 12 min
Why a dead zone can form offshore
A dead zone is bottom water that lost its oxygen under a bloom and a stratified lid.
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From the opening
A dead zone offshore is a layer of water, usually near the bottom, where dissolved oxygen has fallen so low that fish and many bottom animals cannot stay. It forms when extra nutrients feed a bloom and the decay of that bloom uses up oxygen below a stratified surface. The opening covers nutrients feed a surface bloom, decay spends oxygen at depth, and stratification is the lid.
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Inside
- Nutrients feed a surface bloom
- Decay spends oxygen at depth
- Stratification is the lid
- Mixing can end the episode
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Coastal hypoxia from eutrophication
- Stratification that isolates bottom water from the air