By Amanda Vanegas Ledesma
What are Hypoxic Zones?
Hypoxic zones, also known as "dead zones," are areas of the ocean, at around 100m depth, that have oxygen concentrations below 2ml of oxygen per liter. This is, they are basically depleted from oxygen. These zones can occur naturally or be created or enhanced by human activity.
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Figure 2: The three major aggregated land use categories across the Mississippi River Watershed: agriculture
(yellow),
developed (red), and natural (green). Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in runoff and discharges from
agricultural and urban areas are the major contributors to the annual summer hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
Image from NOAA Press Release.
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