Essay about Ocean and Dead Zones

Submitted By bmckee94
Words: 584
Pages: 3
Open Document
Brandon McKee
PLS 120
Albert Kim
5/8/2014
Death of Our Oceans

The Article I have chosen is on a newer and controversial topic. Many scientists believe that we are “Killing” the oceans and eventually it will be our downfall. This article not only talks about the damage we are doing to our planet but also about the damage we could be doing to our economy as a whole. The argument comes from an extensive amount of research into what we call dead zones in our ocean. Dead zones have been known to be caused by extreme events in our climates such as a hurricane or a Tsunami’s. This article is suggesting that humans have been more involved in increasing the number of dead zones worldwide. It is suggested that by the amount of fertilizer we use it is increasing these dead zone at a frightening rate. These dead zones are formed from our fertilizers seeping into rivers and streams and then flowing into our oceans. Once in the ocean the fertilizer becomes more nutrients for the phytoplankton which they use to grow and multiply. This leads to more bacteria being created and in turn CO2 to be produce and push out all the oxygen. This causes most if not all marine organism too leave that area, thus making a dead zone.

This article uses mostly quantitative evidence to prove the argument. It gives you numbers to think about and shows you major increases. An example of this is the figures of dead zones the article gives us. Showing the increase from 49 dead zones in 1960 to over 405 today is a big figure and an effect way to show just how much we are affecting the ocean. They use this same quantitative strategy when describing the impact to the economy, showing the 500 million dollar loss in the fishing industry just from one dead zone. These numbers come from extensive studies done by seasoned scientists and agencies such as the Earth Sciences Data and Information Center.

The results and conclusions of the author in this article are very well supported with facts backed by several different organizations and studies. However this does not mean there are not viable arguments out there. Although not scientists many farmers explain that they have reduced the amount fertilizer by thirty all the way up fifty percent. The argument being, it doesn’t make sense for the problem to be getting worse if they are reducing there fertilizer use. Farmers seem to think
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about Ocean and Dead Zones

Scrapes: Nitrogen and Underwater Oxygen Levels Essay

What Causes Ocean "Dead Zones"? inShare3 So-called dead zones are areas of large bodies of water—typically in the ocean but also occasionally in lakes and even rivers—that do not have enough oxygen to support marine life. The cause of such “hypoxic” (lacking oxygen) conditions is usually eutrophication, an increase in chemical nutrients in the water, leading to excessive blooms of algae that deplete underwater oxygen levels. Nitrogen and phosphorous from agricultural runoff are the primary…

Words 786 - Pages 4

The Dead Zone: Hypoxia In The Gulf Of Mexico

The dead zone is an area when hypoxia happens in a large body of water. Hypoxia is a term referring to the reduced level of oxygen in water. The Gulf of Mexico has the second largest manmade dead zone to be recorded as of today. This zone has been primarily affected by the agriculture waste mixing with the waters of the Mississippi River. The areas of the dead zone lack marine life, hence the name “dead zone” and is constantly growing in size every year. Not all dead zones are caused by pollution…

Words 1490 - Pages 6

Pollution: Water and Brown our Water Essay

of our drinking water comes from underground aquifers and many chemicals are in that water because chemicals sink underground into that water. The chemicals can cause a large amount of problems, like dead zones. The dead zone, called the Gulf of Mexico, was caused by chemicals that went into the ocean making it uninhabitable. There are many things that cause groundwater pollution like landfills, leaky sewer lines, underground storage tanks, poorly constructed wells, and septic tanks. They biggest…

Words 524 - Pages 3

Essay about Algea Blooms

lakes and ocean coasts since the early 1960’s. In the 60’s huge algae blooms sprung up in Lake Erie so violently something had to be done (Wines, 2013). Millions of pounds of unregulated sewage were being dumped into the lake causing giant pools of algae and fish populations almost being eliminated. Since then blooms have been cut off and with regulations and laws, but recently their back (Wines, 2013). Algal Blooms Naturally in the world, nitrogen and phosphorus is found in lakes and ocean coasts…

Words 1091 - Pages 5

Tsunami Essay

areas. A tsunami is a series of large waves generated by an abrupt movement on the ocean floor. They are caused by the movement of the ocean due to earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or the shifting of tectonic plates. “Most strong earthquakes occur in subduction zones where an ocean plate slides under a continental plate or another younger ocean plate”(NEAMTIC). These causes can then lead to the ocean rising into large waves leading to a tsunami. Tsunamis can create waves that can be more than 100 feet tall…

Words 487 - Pages 2

Top .12 Pipe Essay

idea of a lifeless or "azoic" deep ocean was just refuted by Sir Charles Wyville Thomas and others. Commercial fisheries have little to no interest due to rarity. Giant isopods are a great example of deep-sea gigantism, examples of deep sea gigantism can be the giant squid, the Japanese spider crab and the deepwater stingray. A very interesting thing about giant isopods is that they inhabit different zones, the sublittoral zone, 170m, to the bathypelagic zone, 2140m. They are examples of deep sea…

Words 444 - Pages 2

Essay about Girl: Water and Abiotic Factors

near the surface in which photosynthesis can occur is known as the photic zone. The photic zone may be as deep as 200 meters in tropical seas, but just a few meters deep or less in rivers and swamps. Photosynthetic algae, called phytoplankton, live in the photic zone. Zooplankton—tiny free-floating animals—eat phytoplankton. This is the first step in many aquatic food webs. Below the photic zone is the dark aphotic zone, where photosynthesis cannot occur. Many aquatic organisms live on, or…

Words 4642 - Pages 19

Activity Photosynthesis, Earth Systems Perspective

through steps 1 through 4 on the cartoon map. Start by clicking on the #1 and click on the “next step” tab until #4, then click on the “learn more” tab. Stop here and answer the questions below. - What nutrients are the most responsible for causing dead zones? - Where do the excess nutrients come from? - How much of the US continent drains into the Mississippi river? - Comment on potential financial implications of trying to reduce nutrient run off. - Why doesn’t atmospheric oxygen help to oxygenate…

Words 625 - Pages 3

Great Barrier Reef Research Paper

the Australian government should force all farmers who have properties next to rivers to give up some of their farmland. The farmers should do this in order to plant a grove of trees to help reduce the amount of fertilizer runoff that reaches the ocean, as it causes many devastating and harmful impacts to underwater ecosystems. There are many harmful risks and consequences of this for life inside the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia…

Words 682 - Pages 3

Global Warming Research Paper

occurring process. Its effects can already be seen worldwide from the oceans to the rainforests, but mankind has taken little to no precautions to prevent this global catastrophe. Everyone can do their part but to combat a global threat the world needs to unite as a whole to have any chance of success. The world is changing for the worse, climate is increasing and with this brings many problems for the world. For example the oceans one of mankind’s greatest resource used to transport goods and provide…

Words 1770 - Pages 8