Coastal dead zones form when fertilizer runoff fuels algal collapse
Nitrogen and phosphorus washed from farms and cities can trigger massive coastal phytoplankton blooms. When the bloom dies, bacteria consume the oxygen while decomposing the organic rain.
Bottom waters turn hypoxic; crabs, clams, and fish flee or die in place. Famous examples recur seasonally in places like the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Baltic Sea.
A dead zone is not empty of chemistry — it is empty of breath. What begins as fertilizer on land can end as silence on the seafloor.
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