Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico (

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southeast limit of the Gulf of Mexico as:^[7]

A line joining

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 the eastern end of Florida Bay and all the narrow waters between the Dry Tortugas

and the mainland being considered to be within the Gulf.

The consensus among geologists

The rifting that created the basin was associated with zones of weakness within Pangaea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, and African plates collided to create it. First, there was a late Triassic–early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through early and middle Jurassic times, the continental crust was stretched and thinned. This thinning created a broad zone of transitional crust, which displays modest and uneven thinning with block faulting and a broad zone of uniformly thinned transitional crust, which is half the typical 40-kilometer (25 mi) thickness of continental crust. 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. This flooded the opening basin to create an enclosed marginal sea. The subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt and associated anhydrite evaporites. During the late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the basin and progressed to the point that seafloor spreading and formation of oceanic crust occurred. At this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased.^{[8][9][12][13]} Seafloor spreading stopped at the end of the Jurassic, about 145–150 million years ago.

During the late Jurassic through early Cretaceous, the basin experienced a period of cooling and subsidence of the crust underlying it. The subsidence was the result of a combination of crustal stretching, cooling, and loading. Initially, the combination of crustal stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km (3.1–4.3 mi) of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional and oceanic crust. Because subsidence occurred faster than sediment could fill it, the basin expanded and deepened.^[8][13][14]

Later, loading of the crust within the basin and adjacent coastal plain by the accumulation of kilometers of sediments during the rest of the Mesozoic and all of the Cenozoic further depressed the underlying crust to its current position about 10–20 km (6.2–12.4 mi) below sea level. Particularly during the Cenozoic, a time of relative stability for the coastal zones,^[15] thick clastic wedges built out the continental shelf along the northwestern and northern margins of the basin.^[8][13][14]

To the east, the stable

In 2014, Erik Cordes of Temple University and others discovered a brine pool 3,300 feet (1,000 m) below the gulf's surface, with a circumference of 100 feet (30 m) and 12 feet (3.7 m) feet deep, which is four to five times saltier than the rest of the water. The first exploration of the site was unmanned, using Hercules and in 2015 a team of three used the deep-submergence vehicle Alvin. The site cannot sustain any kind of life other than bacteria, mussels with a symbiotic relationship, tube worms and certain kinds of shrimp. It has been called the "Jacuzzi of Despair". Because it is warmer than the surrounding water (65 °F or 18 °C compared to 39 °F or 4 °C), animals are attracted to it but cannot survive once they enter it.^[17]

The Gulf of Mexico is 41 percent continental slope, 32 percent continental shelf, and 24 percent abyssal plain with the greatest depth of 12,467 feet in the Sigsbee Deep.^[18] Seven main areas are given as:^{[citation needed]}

• Gulf of Mexico basin contains the Sigsbee Deep and can be further divided into the continental rise, the Sigsbee Abyssal Plain, and the Mississippi Cone.
• Northeast Gulf of Mexico extends from a point east of the Mississippi River Delta near Biloxi to the eastern side of Apalachee Bay.
• South Florida Continental Shelf and Slope extends along the coast from Apalachee Bay to the Straits of Florida and includes the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
• Campeche Bank extends from the Yucatán Straits in the east to the Tabasco–Campeche Basin in the west and includes Arrecife Alacran.
• Bay of Campeche is a bight extending from the western edge of Campeche Bank to the offshore regions east of Veracruz.
• Western Gulf of Mexico is located between Veracruz to the south and the Rio Grande to the north.
• Northwest Gulf of Mexico extends from Alabama to the Rio Grande.

History

Pre-Columbian

As early as the Maya civilization, the Gulf of Mexico was used as a trade route off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and present-day Veracruz.

Spanish exploration

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Although the Spanish voyage of Christopher Columbus was credited with the discovery of the Americas by Europeans, the ships in his four voyages did not reach the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, the Spanish sailed into the Caribbean around Cuba and Hispaniola.^[19] The first alleged European exploration of the Gulf of Mexico was by Amerigo Vespucci in 1497. Vespucci is purported to have followed the coastal land mass of Central America before returning to the Atlantic Ocean via the Straits of Florida between Florida and Cuba. However, this first voyage of 1497 is widely disputed, and many historians doubt that it took place as described.^[20] In his letters, Vespucci described this trip, and once Juan de la Cosa returned to Spain, a famous world map was produced.

In 1506 Hernán Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba, receiving a large estate of land and indigenous slaves for his effort. In 1510 he accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. In 1518 Velázquez put him in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization.

In 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba discovered the Yucatán Peninsula. 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. 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. Hernández did not live to see the continuation of his work: he died in 1517, the year of his expedition, as the result of the injuries and the extreme thirst suffered during the voyage, and disappointed in the knowledge that Diego Velázquez had given precedence to Grijalva as the captain of the next expedition to Yucatán.

In 1523, a treasure ship was wrecked en route at Padre Island, Texas. When word of the disaster reached Mexico City, the viceroy requested a rescue fleet and sent Ángel de Villafañe from Mexico City, marching overland to find the treasure-laden vessels. Villafañe traveled to Pánuco and hired a ship to transport him to the site, which had already been visited from that community. 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 team labored until September 12 to salvage the Padre Island treasure. This loss, in combination with other ship disasters around the Gulf of Mexico, gave rise to a plan for establishing a settlement on the northern Gulf Coast to protect shipping and more quickly rescue castaways. As a result, the expedition of Tristán de Luna y Arellano was sent and landed at Pensacola Bay on August 15, 1559.

On December 11, 1526, Charles V granted Pánfilo de Narváez a license to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States, known as the Narváez expedition. 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. On April 7, 1528, they spotted land north of what is now Tampa Bay. They turned south and traveled for two days looking for a great harbor the master pilot Miruelo knew of. Sometime during these two days, one of the five remaining ships was lost on the rugged coast, but nothing else is known of it.

In 1697 French sailor

The Gulf of Mexico's eastern, northern, and northwestern shores lie along the US states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The US portion of the coastline spans 1,680 miles (2,700 km), receiving water from 33 major rivers that drain 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces.^[25] The southwestern and southern shores lie along the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and the northernmost tip of Quintana Roo. The Mexican coastline spans 1,743 miles (2,805 km). On its southeast quadrant, the gulf is bordered by Cuba. It supports major American, Mexican and Cuban fishing industries. 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. This attracts fish, shrimp, and squid.^[26] River drainage and atmospheric fallout from industrial coastal cities also provide nutrients to the coastal zone.

The Gulf Stream, a warm Atlantic Ocean current and one of the strongest ocean currents known, originates in the gulf as a continuation of the Caribbean Current–Yucatán Current–Loop Current system. Other circulation features include a permanent cyclonic gyre in the Bay of Campeche, as well as anticyclonic gyres which are shed by the Loop Current and travel westward where they eventually dissipate. The Bay of Campeche constitutes a major arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the gulf's shoreline is fringed by numerous bays and smaller inlets. Stream that empty into the gulf include the Mississippi River and the Rio Grande in the northern gulf, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers in the southern gulf. The land that forms the gulf's coast, including many long, narrow barrier islands, is almost uniformly low-lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach.

The Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example of a

The gulf's warm water temperature can feed powerful Atlantic

Cuba and United States: Maritime boundary agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba, of December 16, 1977.

Mexico and United States: Treaty to resolve pending boundary differences and maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary, of November 23, 1970; Treaty on maritime boundaries between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean), of May 4, 1978, and treaty on the delimitation of the continental shelf in the western Gulf of Mexico beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi), of June 9, 2000.

On December 13, 2007, Mexico submitted information to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) regarding the extension of Mexico's continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.^[33] Mexico sought an extension of its continental shelf in the Western Polygon based on international law, UNCLOS, and bilateral treaties with the United States, in accordance with Mexico's domestic legislation. On March 13, 2009, the CLCS accepted Mexico's arguments for extending its continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles (650 km; 400 mi) into the Western Polygon. Since this would extend Mexico's continental shelf well into territory claimed by the United States, however, Mexico and the U.S. would need to enter a bilateral agreement based on international law that delimits their respective claims.

Shipwrecks

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. She is believed to have been a

On July 30, 1942, the Robert E. Lee, captained by William C. Heath, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-166. She was sailing southeast of the entrance to the Mississippi River when the explosion destroyed the #3 hold, vented through the B and C decks and damaged the engines, the radio compartment and the steering gear. After the attack she was under escort by USS PC-566, captained by Lieutenant Commander Herbert G. Claudius, en route to New Orleans. PC-566 began dropping depth charges on a sonar contact, sinking U-166. The badly damaged Robert E. Lee first listed to port then to starboard and finally sank within about 15 minutes of the attack. One officer, nine crewmen and 15 passengers were lost. The passengers aboard Robert E. Lee were primarily survivors of previous torpedo attacks by German U-boats.^[37] The wreck's location was discovered during the C & C Marine survey that located the U-166. In 2001 the wreck of U-166 was found in 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of water, less than two miles (3.2 km) from where it had attacked Robert E. Lee.^[38]

Biota

See also:

mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake, and New England areas combined.^[5]

The

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement) to help predict the potential impacts of future oil/gas explorations. Since 1979, the specimens have been deposited in the national collections of the National Museum of Natural History.^[42]

Pollution

Dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico

The major environmental threats to the Gulf are

oil drilling. There are 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells beneath the gulf. These have generally not been checked for potential environmental problems.^[43] In 1973 the United States Environmental Protection Agency prohibited the dumping of undiluted chemical waste by manufacturing interests into the gulf, and the military confessed to similar behavior in waters off Horn Island.^[44] Microplastics within semi-enclosed seas like the gulf have been reported in high concentrations, and the gulf's first such study estimated concentrations that rival the highest globally reported.^[45]

There are frequent "red tide" algae blooms^[46] that kill fish and marine mammals and cause respiratory problems in humans and some domestic animals when the blooms reach close to shore. This has especially been plaguing the southwest and southern Florida coast, from the Florida Keys to north of Pasco County, Florida.

The gulf contains a

masculinization and estrogen suppression were observed as a result. An October 2007 study of the Atlantic croaker found a disproportioned sex ratio of 61% males to 39% females in hypoxic sites. This was compared with a 52% to 48% male-female ratio found in reference sites, showing an impairment of reproductive output for fish populations inhabiting hypoxic coastal zones.^[49]

Oil spills

According to 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. This was the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to date.

in flames after the explosion

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, located in the Mississippi Canyon about 40 miles (64 km) off the Louisiana coast, suffered a catastrophic explosion; it sank a day and a half later.^[51] It was in the process of being sealed with concrete for temporary abandonment, to avoid environmental problems.^[43] Although initial reports indicated that relatively little oil had leaked, by April 24 it was claimed by BP that approximately 1,000 barrels (160 m³) of oil per day were issuing from the wellhead, about 1-mile (1.6 km) below the surface on the ocean floor.^[52]

On April 29, the U.S. government revealed that approximately 5,000 barrels (790 m³) per day, five times the original estimate, were pouring into the gulf from the wellhead.^[53] 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.^[54] Coast Guard Rear Admiral Sally Brice O'Hare stated that the U.S. government will be "employing booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants and controlled burns" to combat the oil spill.

By May 1 the oil spill cleanup efforts were underway but hampered by rough seas and the "tea like" consistency of the oil. Cleanup operations were resumed after conditions became favorable. On May 27 the

USGS had revised the estimate of the leak from 5,000 barrels per day (790 m³/d) to 12,000–19,000 barrels per day (3,000 m³/d)^[55] an increase from earlier estimates. On July 15 BP announced that the leak had stopped for the first time in 88 days. In July BP reached an $18.7bn settlement with the U.S. government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. To date, BP's cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54bn.^[56]

On May 12, 2016, a release of oil from subsea infrastructure on

Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.^[50][57]

See also

• American Mediterranean Sea
• Charlotte Harbor (estuary), an estuary in Florida
• Green Canyon, a US Gulf of Mexico petroleum exploration area
• Gulf of Mexico Foundation
• Intra-Americas Sea
• Jack 2 (a test well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico)
• Keathley Canyon, a US Gulf of Mexico petroleum exploration area
• Nepheloid layer
• Orca Basin
• Outer Continental Shelf
• Sigsbee Escarpment, a US Gulf of Mexico petroleum exploration area
• Territorial evolution of the Caribbean
• Tunica Mound

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gulf of Mexico.

• Resource Database for Gulf of Mexico Research
• Gulf of Mexico Integrated Science
• Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck
• Dickson, Henry Newton (1911). "Mexico, Gulf of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). p. 348.
• "Mexico, Gulf of" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
• Bathymetry of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean East of Florida United States Geological Survey
• The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe written by Thomas Kitchin, 1778, in which Kitchin discusses, in chapter 1, why the Gulf should have been called the "West Indian Sea".
• BP Oil Spill, NPR