How polluted is Ocean Water?

How polluted is Ocean Water?

What kind of stuff is in it and why are some areas worse than others? Why are some areas dark colored black water and some are clear blue?

ANSWER?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
One of the most polluted sections of ocean in the world today is known as the Gulf Of Mexico "Dead Zone". Thanks to runoff from the Mississippi River, there is an extremely unhealthy cake of sediment and pollution in the ocean that covers an area of 22,126 square kilometres.

The majority of the pollutants that make up this particular Dead Zone are agricultural-based pollutants, eg. artificial fertilizer and animal waste. Thanks to meterological elements such as rain, the pollution makes its way into the tributaries that lead to the Mississippi, forming a big disgusting clump of waste just offshore in the Gulf.

This causes depleted oxygen levels in the water, which in turn leads to reproductive problems and ultimately death in marine wildlife.There are currently reports of over 140 dead zones throughout the world - but as pessimistic as this sounds, the good news is that the world's previous largest dead zone in the Black Sea (over 70,000 square kilometres!!) actually cleared itself up over the course of 10 years due to a decrease in industrial waste.I'm no ecologist so don't quote me on this - but I wouldn't think that dead zones are responsible for the darnkess of the sea water, I would have thought that had to do more with the ocean's depth and any reefs or other such natural geological occurance (ie. clear blue coloured water closer to the shore and darker black out in the deep, or in a reef-heavy area). Although I'm sure dead zones are distinguishable by satellite, I wouldn't think that *every* off-coloured part of the ocean is a polluted part.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Check out this website, it contains a great array of colourful animations and activities all to do with the Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone:

http://www.smm.org/deadzone/top.html


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