eutrophication

/juˈtrɑfəˌkeɪʃən/

When too many nutrients enter a body of water and cause unnatural growth of algae or other plants, that's eutrophication. This overgrowth eventually depletes oxygen in the water, killing off fish and other animal life.

Most eutrophication is caused by stormwater runoff. When water runs off the soil into lakes and rivers, it carries chemicals and other substances from the ground's surface with it. This can cause water pollution, and it also causes eutrophication. If you've ever seen the surface of a pond covered with bright green algae, you know what eutrophication looks like. This "algae bloom" is caused by the phosphates in detergents, fertilizers, and sewage. The Greek root is eutrophia, "nourish well."

Definitions of eutrophication

1. noun

   excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water, usually caused by runoff of nutrients (animal waste, fertilizers, sewage) from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life; the decomposition of the plants depletes the supply of oxygen, leading to the death of animal life
   “he argued that the controlling factor in eutrophication is not nitrate but phosphate”

   type of:

   biological process, organic process

   a process occurring in living organisms