Scientists are expecting what they call an average sized "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico this year

Scientists are expecting what they call an average sized "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico this year.  

Scientists are predicting the area will measure about 4900 square miles – A little less than the 5 year average of 5500 square miles but much smaller than the 8800 square-mile 2017 Gulf hypoxic zone, which was the largest zone measured since mapping began in 1985.

The Gulf dead zone forms each spring and summer off the Louisiana and Texas coast when oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters.

The zone is caused by nitrates and nitrogen from fertilizer and urban runoff flowing down the Mississippi River.

The US Geologic Survey estimates that river discharge carried 90,500 metric tons of nitrate and 15,600 metric tons of phosphorus into the Gulf of Mexico in May alone.

The amount of nitrogen entering the Gulf of Mexico each spring has increased by about 300 percent since the 1960s, mainly due to increased agricultural runoff.

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