Too much sediment disrupts coastal marine life in two main ways. First it coats them with fine particles of silt, making it difficult for them to extract oxygen from the sea water. Second, it blocks the depth to which sunlight penetrates, so that seaweeds cannot photosynthesise. If sunlight is blocked for long enough, seaweeds die, and so do many other creatures that live in and around them
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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
by Bruce Mahalski
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