[48], There are 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells beneath the Gulf. The Gulf: the Making of an American Sea. On April 7, 1528, they spotted land north of what is now Tampa Bay.

The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters (550 quadrillion Imperial gallons, 660 quadrillion US gallons, 2.5 million km3 or 600,000 cu mi). A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi River and Rio Grande in the northern gulf, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers in the southern gulf. It has been called the "Jacuzzi of Despair". Particularly during the Cenozoic, thick clastic wedges built out the continental shelf along the northwestern and northern margins of the Gulf of Mexico. In June 1979, the Ixtoc I oil platform in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout leading to a catastrophic explosion, which resulted in a massive oil spill that continued for nine months before the well was finally capped.
A line leaving Cape Catoche Light (21°37′N 87°04′W / 21.617°N 87.067°W / 21.617; -87.067) with the Light on Cape San Antonio in Cuba, through this island to the meridian of 83°W and to the Northward along this meridian to the latitude of the South point of the Dry Tortugas (24°35'N), along this parallel Eastward to Rebecca Shoal (82°35'W) thence through the shoals and Florida Keys to the mainland at eastern end of Florida Bay and all the narrow waters between the Dry Tortugas and the mainland being considered to be within the Gulf.

In 1523, Ángel de Villafañe sailed toward Mexico City but was shipwrecked en route along the coast of Padre Island, Texas, in 1554. The Gulf of Mexico's eastern, northern, and northwestern shores lie along the US states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The average depth of the Gulf is roughly 1,615 metres (5,299 ft). He arrived in time to greet García de Escalante Alvarado (a nephew of Pedro de Alvarado), commander of the salvage operation, when Alvarado arrived by sea on July 22, 1554. The Gulf Stream originates here, and it is one of the strongest ocean currents in the world. New York: Liveright Publishing Corp. p. 416. [5], The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southeast limit of the Gulf of Mexico as:[6]. Oysters are also harvested on a large scale from many of the bays and sounds. In July 2008, researchers reported that between 1985 and 2008, the area roughly doubled in size and now stretches from near Galveston, Texas, to near Venice, Louisiana. What are the Top 10 Countries with the Highest FDI Inflows? [52] The resulting oil slick quickly expanded to cover hundreds of square miles of ocean surface, posing a serious threat to marine life and adjacent coastal wetlands and to the livelihoods of Gulf Coast shrimpers and fishermen. What was the Hungarian Revolution of 1956? The United States' proposal to rename the 23° 52′ N 91° 35′ W point "Mexico basin was rejected while the ACUF Mexico basin with "Sigsbee deep" as an alternate name is given in the NGA database as 25° N 92° W.[4][5], There are other features with BGN approved names in the region in recognition of this pioneer in deep ocean sounding and commander of the first true bathymetric survey of the Gulf of Mexico conducted while commanding USC&GS George S. Blake:[4][6], Coordinates: 23°52′N 91°35′W / 23.867°N 91.583°W / 23.867; -91.583, The name "Sigsbee Deep" has sometimes been applied to. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the basin occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling and subsidence of the crust underlying it.

Recreation and the tourism sector are important industries in the regions that surround the Gulf of Mexico. This attracts fish, shrimp, and squid. Gulf of Mexico, Spanish Golfo de México, partially landlocked body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American continent. With the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges.

In 1518 Velázquez put him in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. On September 10, 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center reported that a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred about 250 miles (400 km) west-southwest of Anna Maria, Florida, around 10:56 am EDT. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Straits of Florida, running between the peninsula of Florida and the island of Cuba, and to the Caribbean Sea by the Yucatán Channel, which runs between the Yucatán Peninsula and Cuba. The actual maximum depth is disputed and estimates range between 3,750 and 4,384 metres (12,303 and 14,383 ft). Your personal data will be governed by Mapsofworld, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). [41] In Congressional testimony, Dr. Jonathan Coddington, Associate Director of Research and Collections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, provides a detailed overview of the Gulf collections and their sources which Museum staff have made available on an online map. On July 30, 1942, the Robert E. Lee, captained by William C. Heath, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-166. The first European exploration of the Gulf of Mexico was by Amerigo Vespucci in 1497. Increasingly, the Gulf of Mexico is regarded as a back-arc basin behind the Jurassic Nazas Arc of Mexico.

[55], According to the National Response Center, the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents in the Gulf of Mexico every year. [53] Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice O'Hare stated that the US government will be "employing booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants and controlled burns" to combat the oil spill. In May 2007, an expedition, led by Texas A&M University and funded by OGGC under an agree… A ship now called the Mardi Gras sank around the early 19th century about 35 mi (56 km) off the coast of Louisiana in 4,000 feet (1,200 m) of water. After the attack she was under escort by USS PC-566, captained by Lieutenant Commander Herbert G. Claudius, en route to New Orleans. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time, continental crust was stretched and thinned.

The samples were collected for years by the former Minerals Management Service (renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement) to help predict the potential impacts of future oil/gas explorations. Church and Daniel J. Warren. After both platforms were submerged, the formation of carbonates and evaporites has characterized the geologic history of these two stable areas. This was the first European encounter with an advanced civilization in the Americas, with solidly built buildings and a complex social organization which they recognized as being comparable to those of the Old World; they also had reason to expect that this new land would have gold. [24] The wreck's precise location was discovered during the C & C Marine survey that located the U-166. The shipwreck, whose real identity remains a mystery, lay forgotten at the bottom of the sea until it was discovered in 2002 by an oilfield inspection crew working for the Okeanos Gas Gathering Company (OGGC). These have generally not been checked for potential environmental problems.[49]. As part of the project educational outreach Nautilus Productions in partnership with BOEM, Texas A&M University, the Florida Public Archaeology Network[21] and Veolia Environmental produced a one-hour HD documentary[22] about the project, short videos for public viewing and provided video updates during the expedition. spurs new tactics", "Gulf Oil Spill Worst in U.S. History; Drilling Postponed", "Shell Oil Spill Dumps Nearly 90,000 Gallons of Crude into Gulf", Resource Database for Gulf of Mexico Research, Bathymetry of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean East of Florida, The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulf_of_Mexico&oldid=986275082, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without pushpin map, Articles using infobox body of water without alt bathymetry, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles needing additional references from June 2010, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from Collier's Encyclopedia, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 October 2020, at 21:03. The average depth of the Gulf of Mexico is 5,299 feet (1,615 meters) and the maximum depth is estimated to be 14,383 feet (4,384 meters).

The contract gave him one year to gather an army, leave Spain, be large enough to found at least two towns of 100 people each, and garrison two more fortresses anywhere along the coast. He followed the coastal land mass of Central America before returning to the Atlantic Ocean via the Straits of Florida between Florida and Cuba. The average depth of the Gulf is roughly 1,615 metres (5,299 ft). The outer margins of the wide continental shelves of Yucatán and Florida receive cooler, nutrient-enriched waters from the deep by a process known as upwelling, which stimulates plankton growth in the euphotic zone. 7. Sigsbee Deep is a variant name for the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) approved name of Mexico Basin for cartographic materials produced by Federal agencies. Cuba and Mexico: Exchange of notes constituting an agreement on the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone of Mexico in the sector adjacent to Cuban maritime areas (with map), of July 26, 1976. Villafañe traveled to Pánuco and hired a ship to transport him to the site, which had already been visited from that community. [16] However, Gulf Coast geologists do not regard this hypothesis as having any credibility. The Yucatán platform was emergent until the mid-Cretaceous. [37] According to the September 11, 2006 issue of The Tampa Tribune, earthquake tremors were last felt in Florida in 1952, recorded in Quincy, 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Tallahassee.

She is believed to have been a privateeror trader.

The consensus among geologists[3][7][8] who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico is that before the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was at this time that rifting first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. All of this encouraged two further expeditions, the first in 1518 under the command of Juan de Grijalva, and the second in 1519 under the command of Hernán Cortés, which led to the Spanish exploration, military invasion, and ultimately settlement and colonization known as the Conquest of Mexico. When you purchase our Nautical Charts App, you get all the great marine chart app features like fishing spots, along with GULF OF MEXICO marine chart. By May 1, 2010, the oil spill cleanup efforts were underway, but hampered by rough seas and the "tea like" consistency of the oil.