90-661: The Tully Formation is a geologic unit in the Appalachian Basin . The Tully was deposited as a carbonate rich mud, in a shallow sea at the end of the Middle Devonian . Outcrops for the Tully are found in New York State and Pennsylvania. It is also found subsurface in western Maryland and northern West Virginia. A number of fossil remains from marine organisms maybe found in Tully out crops. The Tully
180-481: 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
270-582: A hypoxic dead zone that runs east–west along the Texas–Louisiana coastline. In July 2008, researchers reported that between 1985 and 2008, the area roughly doubled in size. It was 8,776 square miles (22,730 km ) in 2017, the largest ever recorded. Poor agricultural practices in the northern portion of the Gulf of Mexico have led to a tremendous increase of nitrogen and phosphorus in neighboring marine ecosystems, which has resulted in algae blooms and
360-480: A magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred about 250 miles (400 km) west-southwest of Anna Maria, Florida . The quake was reportedly felt from Louisiana to Florida. There were no reports of damage or injuries. Items were knocked from shelves and seiches were observed in swimming pools in parts of Florida. The earthquake was described by the USGS as an intraplate earthquake , the largest and most widely felt recorded in
450-726: A documentary about the project, short videos and video updates during the expedition. Video footage from the ROV was an integral part of this outreach and used extensively in the Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck documentary. 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
540-664: A great thickness of sediment accumulated. Eventually, the tectonic forces pulling the two continents apart became so strong that the Iapetus Ocean formed off the eastern coast of the Laurentian margin. The rocks of the Valley and Ridge province formed over millions of years, in the Iapetus. Shells and other hard parts of ancient marine plants and animals accumulated to form limey deposits that later became limestone . This
630-492: A lack of available oxygen. Occurrences of 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. According to
720-480: A large scale from many of the bays and sounds. Other important industries along the coast include shipping, petrochemical processing and storage, military use, paper manufacture, and tourism. The gulf's warm water temperature can feed powerful Atlantic hurricanes causing extensive human death and other destruction as happened with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In the Atlantic, a hurricane will draw up cool water from
810-553: A series of mountain-building events over the last 1.2 billion years: The first mountain-building tectonic plate collision that initiated the construction of what are today the Appalachian Mountains occurred during the Mesoproterozoic era at least one billion years ago when the pre-North-American craton called Laurentia collided with other continental segments, notably Amazonia . All the other cratons of
900-422: A serious threat to marine life and adjacent coastal wetlands and to the livelihoods of Gulf Coast shrimpers and fishermen. 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
990-819: A southeastward-thickening foreland basin. Coal and associated rocks form a clastic wedge that thickens from north to south, from Pennsylvania into southeast West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. Discovery of oil in 1859 in the Drake Well , Venango County, Pennsylvania , marked the beginning of the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian Basin. The discovery well opened a prolific trend of oil and gas fields, producing from upper Devonian , Mississippian , and Pennsylvanian sandstone reservoirs that extend from southern New York, across western Pennsylvania, central West Virginia, and eastern Ohio, to eastern Kentucky. A second major trend of oil and gas production in
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#17327917198921080-631: Is an excellent example of a passive margin . The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast, most notably at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas. The shelf is exploited for its oil by means of offshore drilling rigs, most of which are situated in the western gulf and in the Bay of Campeche. Another important commercial activity is fishing; major catches include red snapper , amberjack , tilefish , swordfish , and various grouper , as well as shrimp and crabs. Oysters are also harvested on
1170-587: 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 Southern U.S. states of Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama , and Florida , which border the gulf on the north, are often referred to as
1260-404: 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
1350-519: Is now the southern United States, the Ocoee basin was formed. Seawater filled the basin. Rivers from the surrounding countryside carried clay, silt, sand, and gravel to the basin, much as rivers today carry sediment from the midcontinent region to the Gulf of Mexico . The sediment spread out in layers on the basin floor. The basin continued to subside, and over a long period of time, probably millions of years,
1440-421: Is one of the most important coal producing regions in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. Bituminous coal has been mined throughout the last three centuries. Currently, the coal primarily is used within the eastern U.S. or exported for electrical power generation , but some of it is suitable for metallurgical uses. Economically important coal beds were deposited primarily during Pennsylvanian time in
1530-964: Is primary made up of limestone . There there are also layers with much higher clay contend resulting in a calcareous shale . To the east the Tully becomes siliciclastic . This is due to sediments being washed in from the Acadian Mountains to the east. By the time the Tully was being deposited the Appalachian Basin had been nearly filled in that the Tully was deposited on a broad planform of rock. The Tully ranges in thickness to less than 1' in western New York to 70'+ thick in central Pennsylvania and 90'+ thick in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Tullypothyridina, Camarotoechia Mesocostale, Rhyssochonetes, Emanuella, Pseudoatrypa, Spinatrypa, Tylothyris, Mucrospirifer tulliensis, Cyrtina, Tullypothyridina, Echinocoelia, Strophodonta Loyalsburg Formation Appalachian Basin The geology of
1620-553: Is the same process by which limestone forms in modern oceans. The weathering of limestone exposed at the land surface produces the lime-rich soils that are so prevalent in the fertile farmland of the Valley and Ridge province. During this continental break-up, around 600 million to 560 million years ago, volcanic activity was present along the tectonic margins. There is evidence of this activity in today's Blue Ridge Mountains. Mount Rogers , Whitetop Mountain , and Pine Mountain are all
1710-531: 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. 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 . Seven main areas are given as: As early as the Maya civilization ,
1800-591: 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. It was in the process of being sealed with concrete for temporary abandonment, to avoid environmental problems. Although initial reports indicated that relatively little oil had leaked, by April 24 it
1890-518: 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. The major environmental threats to the gulf are agricultural runoff and oil drilling . There are 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells beneath
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#17327917198921980-823: The Cincinnati Arch . A complexly thrust faulted and folded terrane (Appalachian Fold and Thrust Belt or Eastern Overthrust Belt), formed at the end of the Paleozoic by the Alleghanian orogeny , characterizes the eastern flank of the basin. Metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Blue Ridge Thrust Belt that bounds the eastern part of the Appalachian Basin Province were thrust westward more than 150 miles (240 km) over lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The Appalachian Basin
2070-697: The Marathon Uplift in west Texas and the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma , and to Alabama where it linked directly to the Appalachian Mountains . It was created by the collision of continental plates that formed Pangaea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, this mountain range was breached in the late Cretaceous by the formation of the Mississippi Embayment . The rifting that created
2160-650: 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 privateer or trader. 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). In 2007 an expedition led by Texas A&M University and funded by OGGC under an agreement with
2250-572: 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, thick clastic wedges built out the continental shelf along the northwestern and northern margins of the basin. To the east, the stable Florida Platform
2340-557: The National Response Center , the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents in the Gulf of Mexico every year. 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. This was the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to date. On April 20, 2010,
2430-620: The US Geological Survey and the Geologic Survey of Canada using the science of physiography. The US uses the term Appalachian Highlands, and Canada uses the term Appalachian Uplands, to define contiguous regions that have similar geology, topography, history, and native plant and animal communities. (The Appalachian Mountains are not synonymous with the Appalachian Plateau , which is one of the provinces of
2520-406: The equator . The Appalachian region was a passive plate margin , not unlike today's Atlantic Coastal Plain province. During this interval, the region was periodically submerged beneath shallow seas. Thick layers of sediment and carbonate rock were deposited on the shallow sea bottom when the region was submerged. When seas receded, terrestrial sedimentary deposits and erosion dominated. During
2610-416: The " Third Coast " of the United States (in addition to its Atlantic and Pacific coasts). The Gulf of Mexico took shape approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics . The Gulf of Mexico basin is roughly oval in shape and is approximately 810 nautical miles (1,500 km; 930 mi) wide. Its floor consists of sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of
2700-625: The Appalachian Basin began with the discovery in 1885 of oil and gas in lower Silurian Clinton sandstone reservoirs in Knox County, Ohio . By the late 1880s and early 1900s, the trend extended both north and south across east-central Ohio and included several counties in western New York where gas was discovered in lower Silurian Medina Group sandstones. About 1900, large oil reserves were discovered in Silurian and Devonian carbonate reservoirs in east-central Kentucky. Important gas discoveries from
2790-502: The Appalachian Basin extends offshore into Lakes Erie and Ontario as far as the United States–Canada border. The province covers an area of about 185,500 square miles (480,000 km ) and is 1,075 miles (1,730 km) long from northeast to southwest and between 20 and 310 miles (30 and 500 km) wide from northwest to southeast. The northwestern flank of the basin is a broad homocline that dips gently southeastward off
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2880-511: The Appalachian Highlands). The Appalachian Basin is a foreland basin containing Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of early Cambrian through early Permian age. From north to south, the Appalachian Basin province crosses New York , Pennsylvania , eastern Ohio , West Virginia , western Maryland , eastern Kentucky , western Virginia , eastern Tennessee , northwestern Georgia , and northeastern Alabama . The northern end of
2970-727: The Appalachian basin, so that a broad segment of Paleozoic strata extends eastward for tens of miles, buried beneath these subhorizontal crystalline thrust sheets. At the surface, the Blue Ridge consists of a mountainous to hilly region, the main component of which are the Blue Ridge Mountains that extend from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Surface rocks consist mainly of a core of moderate-to high-rank crystalline metamorphic or igneous rocks which, because of their superior resistance to weathering and erosion, commonly rise above
3060-639: The Appalachian ranges marks the first of several mountain building plate collisions that culminated in the construction of Pangea with the Appalachians and neighboring Anti-Atlas mountains (now in Morocco) near the center. These mountain ranges likely once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before they were eroded. The Appalachian Mountains formed through
3150-532: The Appalachians dates back more than 1.2 billion years to the Mesoproterozoic era when two continental cratons collided to form the supercontinent Rodinia , 500 million years prior to the development of the range during the formation of Pangea . The rocks exposed in today's Appalachian Mountains reveal elongate belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks , volcanic rocks , and slivers of ancient ocean floor —strong evidences that these rocks were deformed during plate collision . The birth of
3240-699: 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 experiences very small tidal ranges . The size of the gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km (620,000 sq mi). Almost half of the basin consists of shallow continental shelf waters. The volume of water in
3330-473: The Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. 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,
3420-422: 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
3510-554: The Blue Ridge and Piedmont Provinces to the south. The uplifted, nearly-circular Adirondack Mountains consist of a core of ancient Precambrian rocks that are surrounded by upturned Cambrian and Ordovician sedimentary rocks. Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish : Golfo de México ) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean , mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It
3600-657: The Earth also collided at about this time to form the supercontinent Rodinia, which was surrounded by one single ocean . Mountain-building referred to as the Grenville orogeny occurred along the boundaries of the cratons. The present Appalachian Mountains have at least two areas which are made from rock formations that were formed during this orogeny: the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Adirondacks . After
3690-525: The Grenville orogeny, the direction of the continental drift reversed, and Rodinia began to break up. The mountains formed during the Grenvillian era underwent erosion from weathering , glaciation , and other natural processes, resulting in the leveling of the landscape. The eroded sediments from these mountains contributed to the formation of sedimentary basins and valleys. For example, in what
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3780-652: The Gulf of Mexico was used as a trade route off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and present-day Veracruz . 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 . The first alleged European exploration of
3870-491: 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. In his letters, Vespucci described this trip, and once Juan de la Cosa returned to Spain,
3960-569: The Knox Dolomite . The Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Adirondack, and New England Provinces are collectively known as the Crystalline Appalachians because they consist of Precambrian and Cambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks. The Blue Ridge Thrust Belt Province underlies parts of eight states from central Alabama to southern Pennsylvania. Along its western margin, the Blue Ridge is thrust over the folded and faulted margin of
4050-679: 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 the eastern end of Florida Bay and all the narrow waters between the Dry Tortugas and
4140-704: The Minerals Management Service (now BOEM ) was launched to undertake the deepest scientific archaeological excavation ever attempted at that time to study the site on the seafloor and recover artifacts for eventual public display in the Louisiana State Museum . As part of the project educational outreach Nautilus Productions in partnership with BOEM, Texas A&M University, the Florida Public Archaeology Network and Veolia Environmental produced
4230-603: 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
4320-496: 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. A ship now called
4410-423: 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
4500-530: The adjacent areas of low-grade metamorphic and sedimentary rock. The province is bounded on the north and west by the Paleozoic strata of the Appalachian Basin and on the south by Cretaceous and younger sedimentary rocks of the Gulf Coastal Plain . It is bounded on the east by metamorphic and sedimentary rocks of the Piedmont Province . The Adirondack and New England Provinces include sedimentary, meta-sedimentary, and plutonic igneous rocks, mainly of Cambrian and Ordovician age, similar lithologically to rocks in
4590-717: 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. 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 . Various biota include chemosynthetic communities near cold seeps and non chemosynthetic communities such as bacteria and other micro- benthos , meiofauna , macrofauna , and megafauna (larger organisms such as crabs , sea pens , crinoids , demersal fish , cetaceans , and
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#17327917198924680-474: The basin is roughly 2.4 × 10 cubic kilometers (5.8 × 10 cubic miles). The gulf is one of the most important offshore petroleum production regions in the world, making up one-sixth of the United States' total production. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southeast limit of the Gulf of Mexico as: A line joining Cape Catoche Light ( 21°37′N 87°04′W / 21.617°N 87.067°W / 21.617; -87.067 ) with
4770-403: 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
4860-543: 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
4950-439: 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 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was chosen by the Minister of Marine to lead an expedition to rediscover
5040-497: The coastline spans 1,680 miles (2,700 km), receiving water from 33 major rivers that drain 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. 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
5130-407: 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. Later, loading of the crust within the basin and adjacent coastal plain by the accumulation of kilometers of sediments during the rest of
5220-429: The continental agglomeration, with the Appalachian-Ouachita mountains near the middle. Pangea began to break up about 220 million years ago, in the early Mesozoic (late Triassic period). As Pangea rifted apart a new passive tectonic margin was born, and the forces that created the Appalachian, Ouachita, and Marathon Mountains were stilled. Weathering and erosion prevailed, and the mountains began to wear away. By
5310-482: 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. Mexico sought an extension of its continental shelf in the Western Polygon based on international law, UNCLOS, and bilateral treaties with
5400-401: The depths and making it less likely that further hurricanes will follow in its wake (warm water being one of the preconditions necessary for their formation). However, the gulf is shallower; when a hurricane passes over the water temperature may drop but it soon rebounds and becomes capable of supporting another tropical storm. From 1970 to 2020, surface temperatures warmed at approximately twice
5490-404: The early Appalachians were born. Volcanoes grew along the continental margin , coincident with the initiation of subduction. Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down. Streams carried rock debris downslope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. Mountain building continued periodically throughout
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#17327917198925580-494: The end of the Mesozoic, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost-flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define the folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across
5670-472: 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
5760-542: The extinct Caribbean monk seal ) are living in the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, resident Bryde's whales within the gulf were classified as an endemic, unique subspecies and making them as one of the most endangered whales in the world. The Gulf of Mexico yields more fish, shrimp, and shellfish annually than the south and mid-Atlantic , Chesapeake , and New England areas combined. The Smithsonian Institution Gulf of Mexico holdings are expected to provide an important baseline of understanding for future scientific studies on
5850-439: The gulf's first such study estimated concentrations that rival the highest globally reported. There are frequent " red tide " algae blooms 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
5940-450: 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
6030-419: The gulf. These have generally not been checked for potential environmental problems. 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 . Microplastics within semi-enclosed seas like the gulf have been reported in high concentrations, and
6120-426: The impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . 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. The samples were collected for years by the former Minerals Management Service (renamed
6210-413: The lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone in Guernsey County, Ohio , in 1924; Schuyler County, New York , in 1930; and Kanawha County, West Virginia , in 1936 opened a major gas-producing trend across parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia. Another drilling boom occurred in the 1960s in Morrow County, Ohio , where oil was discovered in the Upper Cambrian part of
6300-432: The mainland being considered to be within the Gulf. The consensus among geologists is that before the late Triassic , the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. Before the Late Triassic, the area consisted of dry land, which included continental crust that now underlies Yucatán , within the middle of the supercontinent Pangaea . This land lay south of a continuous mountain range that extended from north-central Mexico, through
6390-467: The mainland, Biloxi , with his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville . On May 1 he completed Fort Maurepas on the northeast side of the Bay of Biloxi. On May 4 d'Iberville sailed for France leaving his teenage brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne , as second in command to the French commandant. 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
6480-494: The middle Ordovician (about 458-470 million years ago), a change in plate motions set the stage for the first Paleozoic mountain building event ( Taconic orogeny ) in North America. The once quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring oceanic crust , the Iapetus, collided with and began sinking beneath the North American craton. With the creation of this new subduction zone,
6570-613: The mouth of the Mississippi River and to colonize Louisiana which the English coveted. D'Iberville's fleet sailed from Brest on October 24, 1698. On January 25, 1699, d'Iberville reached Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola founded by the Spanish; he sailed from there to Mobile Bay and explored Massacre Island, later renamed Dauphin Island . He cast anchor between Cat Island and Ship Island ; and on February 13 he went to
6660-547: The next 250 million years (the Caledonian , Acadian , Ouachita , Hercynian , and Alleghanian orogenies). Continent after continent was thrust and sutured onto the North American craton as Pangea began to take shape. Microplates , smaller bits of crust too small to be called continents, were swept in one by one to be welded to the growing mass. By about 300 million years ago (the Pennsylvanian period), Africa
6750-462: 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 m /d) to 12,000–19,000 barrels per day (3,000 m /d) 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,
6840-612: The past three decades in the region. 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 . 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. Cuba and United States: Maritime boundary agreement between
6930-474: The rate observed for the global ocean surface. The gulf is considered aseismic ; however, mild tremors have been recorded throughout history (usually 5.0 or less on the Richter magnitude scale ). Earthquakes may be caused by interactions between sediment loading on the sea floor and adjustment by the crust. On September 10, 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center reported that
7020-478: The resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures. The ridges of the Appalachian Mountain core represent erosion-resistant rock that remained after the rock above and beside it was eroded away. The geographic boundaries of the Appalachian Mountains follow a definition that accounts for all the land mass in the United States and Canada used by
7110-553: The result of volcanic activity that occurred around this time. Evidence of subsurface activity ( dikes and sills intruding into the overlying rock) is present in the Blue Ridge as well. For instance, mafic rocks have been found along the Fries Fault in the central Blue Ridge area of Montgomery County, Virginia . During the earliest part of the Paleozoic , the continent that would later become North America straddled
7200-474: 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
7290-525: 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
7380-409: The states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. As of 2015 BP's cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $ 54bn. On May 12, 2016, a release of oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell's Brutus oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil. This leak created a visible 2 by 13 miles (3.2 by 20.9 km) oil slick in
7470-560: 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,
7560-414: 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. 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
7650-669: Was approaching the North American craton. The collisional belt spread into the Ozark - Ouachita region and through the Marathon Mountains area of Texas. Continental collisions raised the Appalachian-Ouachita chain to a lofty mountain range on the scale of the present-day Himalayas . The massive bulk of Pangea was completed near the end of the Paleozoic era (the Permian period) when Africa ( Gondwana ) plowed into
7740-462: Was claimed by BP that approximately 1,000 barrels (160 m ) of oil per day were issuing from the wellhead , about 1-mile (1.6 km) below the surface on the ocean floor. On April 29, the U.S. government revealed that approximately 5,000 barrels (790 m ) per day, five times the original estimate, were pouring into the gulf from the wellhead. The resulting oil slick quickly expanded to cover hundreds of square miles of ocean surface, posing
7830-555: Was involved during the latest Cretaceous and early Paleogene periods in a compressive deformation episode, the Laramide Orogeny , which created the Sierra Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico. 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
7920-402: Was not covered by the sea until the latest Jurassic or the beginning of Cretaceous time. The Yucatán Platform was emergent until the mid-Cretaceous. After both platforms were submerged, the formation of carbonates and evaporites has characterized the geologic history of these two stable areas. Most of the basin was rimmed during the early Cretaceous by carbonate platforms, and its western flank
8010-514: 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
8100-482: 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
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