BharatNotes Eutrophication
noun (uncountable)Usage in a UPSC answer
The unchecked discharge of phosphate-rich agricultural runoff into Chilika Lake has progressively triggered eutrophication, threatening its Ramsar wetland status and the migratory bird populations that depend on its open-water zone.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
eutrophicate (verb), eutrophic (adjective), oligotrophic (adjective), eutrophy (noun), hypereutrophic (adjective)
Root
Greek eu- = well, good, abundantly; Greek trophē = nourishment, food; -ation = process
Etymology
From Greek eutrophos (well-nourished), first applied to lake classification by German scientist C.A. Weber in 1907 and formalised by Einar Naumann in the 1910s–1920s. The irony captured in the etymology is deliberate: 'too well nourished' leads to ecological collapse rather than health.
Memory Hook
EU (good/abundant) + TROPHIC (food). Think: the lake ate too good — so much fertiliser ran into it that algae went wild, choked the oxygen, and the fish died. 'Too much of a good thing' is the eutrophication story.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
Enrichment of a water body with nutrients, chiefly nitrogen and phosphorus, triggering algal growth whose decomposition depletes dissolved oxygen. The causal chain is what an answer must show rather than assert: nutrient loading from fertiliser runoff and untreated sewage, then algal bloom, then light blocked from submerged plants, then oxygen consumed by decomposers, then fish kill and dead zone. Naming each link is what separates a strong GS3 answer.
Don’t Confuse It With
Eutrophication is nutrient enrichment leading to oxygen depletion. An algal bloom is the visible proliferation that results. Hypoxia is the resulting low-oxygen condition and anoxia its complete absence. Cultural eutrophication is the human-accelerated form, as against the slow natural ageing of lakes.
Hindi Meaning
सुपोषण (supōshan) or यूट्रोफिकेशन.
Common Questions
- What is eutrophication?
- The enrichment of a water body with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, causing algal growth whose decay depletes dissolved oxygen.
- Why does eutrophication kill fish?
- Decomposition of the algal bloom consumes dissolved oxygen, and the resulting hypoxia suffocates fish and other aquatic organisms.
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