Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is an oceanic basin and marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly enclosed by the North American continent, bounded by the United States to the north and northwest, Mexico to the west and south, and Cuba to the southeast. It covers a surface area of about 1,550,000 square kilometers, stretches up to 1,500 kilometers wide, and reaches an average depth of 1,615 meters and a maximum depth of roughly 3,750 to 4,384 meters at the Sigsbee Deep, holding an estimated 2.4 million cubic kilometers of water. The Mississippi River, the Rio Grande and the Usumacinta River are among its major sources, and it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida and to the Caribbean Sea through the Yucatan Channel. The gulf is also one of the largest offshore petroleum production regions in the world, accounting for about 14 percent of total United States crude oil production.