The devastating floods in the Missouri and Mississippi basins aren't the end of the problems caused by the wet spring in 2019. Fertilizer overload from high river runoff is forecast to lead to a very large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico later this summer.
Already a threat to fish, mussels, and other marine creatures, low-oxygen “dead zones” are expected to increase in both size and number as greenhouse gas concentrations and global temperatures continue to rise.