| NITRATE. |
|
The atmosphere of the earth contains 79% nitrogen. Nevertheless, it
is a problem for the farmers that the soil does not contain enough nitrogen
to get a maximum yield of the land. That is why the farmers have to fertilize.
The consequence is that to much nitrogen is discharged into the subsoil
water, because organisms like plants can not absorb it all. The consequence
is by-effects in other lifecycles in the nature, for instance in some lakes,
streams and seas.
The Baltic near Denmarc is exposed to huge discharges of nutritive
salts especially from Eastern Europe for instance Poland and the Baltic
States. The problem with the nutritive salts is that there are huge concentrations
of these salts, because the water replacement is a very slow process. It
may take up to 25 - 50 years before the water has been replaced in
the Baltic. Every year the Baltic receives about one million tons of nitrogen.
Huge amounts of nutritive salts is a good condition for the growth
of algae. Algae are everywhere in the water, and in the end, the sunshine
will not be able to reach the plants at the bottom of the sea. The algae
near the surface of the sea will create a cover, which will shade the sunlight,
and thereby the growth of algae below. Furthermore, there is a low oxygen
concentration in the water, because of the many dead algae, which will
damage the animal life. Finaly, the animals in the water will die, because
they can not breath.