Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Revolution”. Its aim was to increase the production and availability of food. The
IWP proved to be highly effective, but one of its environmental consequences
was the sharp increase in the nutrient influx to different water bodies, including
inland seas and coastal marine waters. The global consumption of nitrogen and
phosphorus fertilizers has greatly increased during last several decades (Fig.
2).
80
Total N
60
40
Phosphate (P
2
O
5
)
20
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Figure 2.
World's nitrogen (N) and phosphate (P
2
O
5
) fertilizer consumption in 1960-2003
[13].
It is evident that there was a sharp increase in fertilizer use in the 1960s, 1970s
and 1980s and stabilization at the high level after 1990s [13]. The fertilizers use
trend in the world resembles the trend in phytoplankton blooms in some marine
coastal waters. This is a major reason why the 1970s was a crucial period for
marine ecosystems. In marine ecology it is therefore quite realistic to call this
period “the critical 1970s” [19]. The Black Sea, due to its geographical position
and large drainage basin, its morphometry and high isolation from the World
Ocean, is the most strongly pronounced example in this respect, but the event
was not an entirely exceptional one.
