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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Toy Boy" data-source="post: 15814445" data-attributes="member: 485841">3. Mississippi River, U.S.<img src="http://img.techpowerup.org/131030/Capture069.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://img.techpowerup.org/131030/Capture071.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://img.techpowerup.org/131030/Capture072.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://img.techpowerup.org/131030/Capture073.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />America's most important waterway winds 2,350 miles along or through 10 states, from Minnesota to Louisiana and into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way the river accumulates drainage from 31 states and two Canadian provinces before flushing sediment into the Gulf to form the Mississippi River Delta. The Mississippi's location along key industrial and agricultural hubs also make it an vital shipping and transportation conduit for most of America. Ninety-two percent of the nation's agricultural exports and 78 percent of world's feed grain and soybean exports are located along the Mississippi, according to the National Park Service. But with tremendous importance comes equally exceptional abuse. A report released by the advocacy group Environment Missouri found that 12.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the Mississippi during a year long stretch. Most of those chemicals come from fertilizers and other nutrient rich chemicals used to stimulate the growth of crops along the river. When coupled with sewage run off, the mass of polluted water converges at the head of the Gulf of Mexico to one of the largest "dead zones" -- an area completely devoid of life -- in the world.The Gulf of Mexico dead zone occurs when the chemically saturated waters of the Mississippi mix with the salty Gulf, igniting massive algae blooms that eventually decompose and consume the oxygen in the water, causing all life to die in a process known as hypoxia. Every year the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone varies in size, but remains one of the largest such "dead zones" in the world. In 2002 the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone reached its largest known size of more than 8,400 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey, but in 2012 measured just 2,889 miles, slightly larger than Delaware.The Mississippi's woes extend further than the dead zone. The river is prone to a disproportionate share of oil spills, including the 2010 BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico that wreaked havoc on the Mississippi River Delta, spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, before eventually finding its way to the mouth of the Mississippi.</blockquote>

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