Unexplained Salt Marsh "Die Off"

Another in a long list of disturbing environmental phenomenon:

Scientists Investigating Salt Marsh Die-Off

Something is killing New England's salt marshes, and scientists are trying to figure out how large the problem is, and how to stop it. Parts of the marshes, normally teeming with cord grass, fish and birds have turned mud brown and bare of life except for fiddler crabs.

"No one recalls seeing anything like this," Ron Rozsa, coastal ecologist with Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection, told the Day of New London as he surveyed a section of the Oyster River salt marsh in Old Saybrook. "We're talking about a crime scene investigation some forensic ecology, if you will."

Scientists are calling the mysterious phenomenon sudden wetlands dieback.

Gulf Stream slowing, major coral reefs dying off suddenly, accelerated ice melts - where will it end?

This appears to be a major phenomenon throughout New England coasts at this point and they just don't know why it's happening.

there was another thread recently about a florida lake dissappearing too...
rather alarming when you look at all these events together.

here it is...
Sinkhole drains most of Scott Lake

The sink hole thing is not connected to the salt marshes in connecticut.
What do you mean by that any way ?

not connected in the literal sense as in same location, or connected somehow physically, but lakes draining...salt marshes drying up, that vortex thingy in the ocean... makes you wonder if they are "connected" somehow... as in major earth changes

I really wonder what caused these marsh land to die off ?

I agree WW, there are just too many things occuring in nature lately that are alarming in themselves, but put together with all the other phenonmenon in the past year or two are really starting to be worrisome.

The lake that vanished in Florida could have something to do with the horrendous droughts we are just now getting over in Florida, the water table was so low the well companies are booked solid for weeks in advance from pumps buring out and sand or saltwater being sucked in.

Meanwhile yesterday there were unheard of flood reports out of Washington DC no less. We are talking closing of dowtown areas & mudslides that shut down major roads in July. How bizarre is that? There doesn't seem to be a good place to be to avoid extremes in the environment anymore.

The report of massive sudden die off of coral reefs in the Carribean last year, now massive sudden die offs of salt mashes all the way up in New England (both of which were unexpected and I think the coral reefs were unexplained too) shows major negative changes in our environment are occuring over a widespread area.

Of course, we can clean up after floods and ultimately get our lawns back after droughts end, but the affect on wildlife and ecosystems are long term problems that will not correct for long periods of time.

WTF ???
is this attack of the mods or something ?

How do you guys or gals...see a connection between a sink hole and marshes dying off ???

I think you are missing what we perceive. I don't see them as directly connected, just as WW said, but the point is there are major extremes happening everywhere and many of them are mysteries with large environmental impacts.

If you look at all the extremes being reported you have a disturbing big picture of change. Change that we cannot control and in many cases cannot explain or correct.

In the case of the salt marsh die off, I think there could very well be a connection with the rapid ice melts in Greenland reported by Loam, and I don't think it's much of a stretch to connect that with the weakening of the gulf stream, possibly being a factor in the coral reef die off and climate change (which would take you to the droughts in one part of the country while other areas are severely flooding beyond what they have experienced in the past.)

Many of these things are happening rapidly, in the case of the lake referenced by WW, it didn't just dry up from the drought, it pretty much vanished overnight. In other words, severe things are occuring locally in so many places, you look at the big picture and how can you deny something is drastically wrong? That's just the way I see it.

Edit: Here's a link to the DC flooding. This is extreme, almost nothing was unaffected. there is too much in the article to even recap, take a look at it.

Rains Flood Highways Around D.C.

Motorists were stranded during the morning rush hour, commuter trains were halted and emergency crews used boats to rescue dozens of people marooned by high water.

Many government employees were told to stay home, and tourists found that some of the major landmarks that had drawn them to Washington were closed.

[edit on 6/27/2006 by Relentless]

I noticed Loam has also picked up on this phenomenon:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Today I find new news on the same topic, nothing much new except maybe it's more widespread than originally reported, but I thought I would add it.

Salt Marsh Die Of

This article does expand on the areas affected more than the first one I posted, but it also includes some theories, as well as somedissent on the causes.