1. Nutrients enter a waterway in elevated concentrations.
2. Nutrients promote phytoplankton growth, and increase phytoplankton density in waters.
3. More phytoplankton die and settle where they are metabolized by bacteria.
4. Hypoxic conditions arise in the deep water above the sediments.
5. Aquatic life in and near the sediment flees or suffocates.
These are all the steps because they are involved in eutrophication.
