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| Gulf of Mexico | |
|---|---|
| Golfo de México[a] | |
.png) Bathymetry of the Gulf of Mexico | |
| Location | American Mediterranean Sea |
| Coordinates | 25°N 90°W / 25°N 90°W |
| River sources | Rio Grande, Mississippi River, Mobile River, Panuco River, Jamapa River, Pascagoula River, Tecolutla River, Usumacinta River, Apalachicola River |
| Ocean/sea sources | Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea |
| Basin countries | |
| Max. width | 1,500 km (930 mi) |
| Surface area | 1,550,000 km2 (600,000 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 1,615 m (5,299 ft)[2] |
| Max. depth | 3,750 to 4,384 m (12,303 to 14,383 ft)[2] |
| Settlements | Veracruz, Houston, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Tampa, Havana, Southwest Florida, Mobile, Gulfport, Tampico, Key West, Cancún, Ciudad del Carmen, Coatzacoalcos, Panama City |
The Gulf of Mexico (Spanish: Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean,[3][4] mostly surrounded by the North American continent.[5] It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southwest and south by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo; and on the southeast by Cuba. The coastal areas along the Southern U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, which border the Gulf on the north, are occasionally referred to as the "Third Coast" of the United States (in addition to its Atlantic and Pacific coasts), but more often as "the Gulf Coast".
The Gulf of Mexico took shape about 300 million years ago (mya) as a result of plate tectonics.[6] The Gulf of Mexico basin is roughly oval and is about 810 nautical miles (1,500 kilometers; 930 miles) wide. Its floor consists of sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida between the U.S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel between Mexico and Cuba. Because of its narrow connection to the Atlantic Ocean, the gulf has very small tidal ranges.
The size of the gulf basin is about 1.6 million square kilometers (620,000 square miles). Almost half of the basin consists of shallow continental shelf waters. The volume of water in the basin is roughly 2.4 million cubic kilometers (580 thousand cubic miles).[7] The gulf is one of the most important offshore petroleum production regions in the world, making up 14% of the United States' total production.[8] Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico also contributes to weather across the United States, including severe weather in Tornado Alley.
- ^ México in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas by Royal Spanish Academy and Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, Madrid: Santillana. 2005. ISBN 978-8-429-40623-8.
- ^ a b "General Facts about the Gulf of Mexico". GulfBase.org. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- ^ "Gulf of Mexico – a sea in Atlantic Ocean". www.deepseawaters.com. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ^ "Gulf of Mexico Region". National Marine Ecosystem Status. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
- ^ "Gulf of Mexico". Geographic Names Information System. 1 January 2000. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ Huerta, Audrey D.; Harry, Dennis L. (2012). "Wilson cycles, tectonic inheritance, and rifting of the North American Gulf of Mexico continental margin". Geosphere. 8 (1): 374–385. doi:10.1130/GES00725.1.
- ^ "General Facts about the Gulf of Mexico". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 3 October 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Gulf of Mexico Fact Sheet". United States Energy Information Administration. 4 September 2024. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
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