The First “Dead Zone”

The term “dead zone” is used in the popular media and only occasionally in the scientific literature to describe waters with dangerously low dissolved oxygen. This note is about the term's first appearance in print. The story starts in the North Atlantic Ocean, winds through the former Soviet Union and Lake Pontchartrain, before ending in Houma, Louisiana, whose coastal waters include the most infamous dead zone, the northern Gulf of Mexico. Although the term is common in reports for the general public, scientists tend to avoid it because it is inaccurate; dead zones are in fact full of life. In spite of its problems, “dead zone” has a place in communicating our science to others, but it and other colorful terms should be used judiciously.