Gulf 'Dead Zone' One of the Biggest Ever

Low-oxygen marine wasteland measures 7,772 square miles
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2010 4:25 PM CDT
Gulf 'Dead Zone' One of the Biggest Ever
In this July 28, 2010 satellite image provided by NASA, oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is visible on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.   (AP Photo/NASA)

The Gulf of Mexico is seeing one of the biggest low-oxygen areas—or "dead zones"—on record this year. A dead zone forms in the Gulf around this time every year, but the 2010 incarnation is 7,722 square miles, just a few hundred short of the record size of 8,000, the AP reports. Marine scientists aren't sure if the development has anything to do with the Gulf oil spill.
(More Gulf oil spill stories.)

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