Flooding creates ‘dead zone’ in gulf

Fresh water pouring into the Gulf of Mexico after weeks of flooding in the state has created an oxygen-depleted “dead zone” that threatens sea life, a researcher said.

Steve DiMarco, a professor of oceanography at Texas A&M; University, said freshwater runoff from the swollen Brazos River left a 1,750-square-mile area hypoxic, or depleted of oxygen. Sea life is threatened as far as 35 miles offshore.

“This can definitely have an effect on organisms living there -- fish and shrimp, crabs, clams,” DiMarco said. “All these things need oxygen in order to live. If you have this phenomenon occurring, depending on the severity and how long it lasts, you can have mass mortality.”