MISSISSIPPI RIVER DEAD ZONE

Today I continue sharing the photographs taken on our last-Thursday trolley.  The Mighty Mississippi ranks way high on our list of places we like to go.  My main focus was on one of the 'dead zones' along the backwaters.....

Note the eagle's nest up in the tree.

Professors, scientists and oceanographers are researching the causes and effects of hypoxia in the Gulf.  From May to September each year, the Gulf develops the largest hypoxic zone in the United States.  Hypoxic conditions occur when an area of water has less than 2 milligrams of oxygen per liter of water.  It usually means the death or flight of most living organisms in the area.  

Hypoxia can occur naturally in water, but humans have worsened the problem since the 20th century.  Nutrient runoff from farm fertilizer, chemicals and other sources washes into rivers and streams, increasing nitrogen and phosphorus in our waterways.  Since the 1950s, the amount of nitrogen in the Mississippi River watershed has tripled, and the amount of phosphorus has also increased, in part from fertilizer applied in Midwestern states.

While we were driving through this 'dead zone,' I told the boyfriend it felt like the aftermath of a nuclear war zone.  Real eerie....very real.

There is no Planet B.