American Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean dilution basin covering the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea

American Mediterranean Sea

Composite June 2008 satellite image of the American Mediterranean Sea

American Mediterranean Sea

Location| The Americas
Coordinates| 18°N 80°W﻿ / ﻿18°N 80°W﻿ / 18; -80
Type| Sea
Basin countries|

List

* Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
British Virgin Islands
Caribbean Netherlands
Cayman Islands
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Curaçao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Martinique
Mexico
Montserrat
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
United States
United States Virgin Islands
Venezuela

Surface area| 4,200,000 km2 (1,600,000 sq mi)
Average depth| 2,216 m (7,270 ft)
Max. depth| 7,686 m (25,217 ft)
Islands| 1100+
Settlements|

List

* Barranquilla
Barcelona
Beaumont
Cancun
Cartagena
Colón
Corpus Christi
Cumaná
Havana
Houston
Maracaibo
Miami
Mobile
New Orleans
Porlamar
San Juan
Santa Marta
Santo Domingo
Tampa
Veracruz

The American Mediterranean Sea is a scientific name for the mediterranean dilution basin that includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.[1]: 15, 35, 637–643 [2] The name, which has been employed particularly by German oceanographers, is not recognized by the USGS, the International Hydrographic Organization or other international hydrological bodies.[citation needed]

The American Mediterranean has a surface area of 4.319 million km2 and an average depth of 2,216 metres (7,270 ft).[1]

Its basins include the Mexico Basin, the Cayman Trough, the Yucatan Basin, the Columbian Basin, the Venezuelan basin and the Grenada basin.[3][1][4]

The American Mediterranean is considered one of the oceanic marginal seas. In addition to numerous small islands, large and small groups of islands, and islets, it includes the large islands of Cuba, bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; of Jamaica, Hispaniola, and of Puerto Rico. All of these islands are among the West Indian islands that separate the American Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean.

Between the islands, the American Mediterranean Sea contains the following straits: the Florida Straits, the Windward Passage (Paso de los Vientos), the Mona Passage (Canal de la Mona), the Anegada Passage to Guadeloupe Passage, and the Dominica Passage to Martinique Passage. Within the Mediterranean, the Straits of Yucatán connect the Gulf of Mexico with the Caribbean, and since the inauguration of the Panama Canal in August 1914, it has been connected to the Pacific.

## Watershed

[edit]

The American Mediterranean Sea drains approximately 6,200,000 km2 (2,400,000 sq mi) in North America and Caribbean South America; it is the 2nd largest sea watershed. The watershed depends on South American water bodies such as the Magdalena River with 257,440 km2 (99,397 sq mi), as well as the Guajira Peninsula and the Gulf of Venezuela. Central American drainages include those of/to the Belize River, Gulf of Honduras, Caratasca Lagoon, Nicaraguan Caribbean Lowlands, and the Colorado River in Costa Rica. In North America, the sea mostly drains the Mississippi River basin of 3,202,230 km2 (1,236,388 sq mi), to the east of the Continental Divide of the Americas, while it drains approximately 610,000 km2 (235,000 sq mi) from the Rio Grande and 198,000 km2 (76,300 sq mi) from the Yucatan Peninsula.[5]

## See also

[edit]

* Mediterranean sea (oceanography)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Sverdrup, H. U.; Johnson, M. W.; Fleming, R. H. (1942). "The Oceans Their Physics, Chemistry, and General Biology, Chapter 15 The Adjacent Seas of the North Atlantic Ocean". University of California Press E-Books Collection. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
2. ^ Tomczak, Matthias; Godfrey, J. Stuart (22 October 2013). Regional Oceanography: An Introduction. Elsevier. ISBN 978-1-4832-8761-4.
3. ^ "Caribbean Sea | Definition, Location, Map, Islands, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
4. ^ French, C. D, and C. J. Schenk, USGS Open File Report 97-470-K, Map Showing Geology, Oil and Gas Fields, and Geologic Provinces of the Caribbean Region [1] (large PDF file)
5. ^ www.britannica.com.

* v
* t
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Countries and territories of the American Mediterranean Sea

Sovereign states|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Colombia
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States
* Venezuela

Dependencies and other territories|

* Anguilla (UK)
* Aruba (NET)
* British Virgin Islands (UK)
* Caribbean Netherlands (NET)
* Cayman Islands (UK)
* Curaçao (NET)
* Guadeloupe (FRA)
* Martinique (FRA)
* Montserrat (UK)
* Puerto Rico (USA)
* Saint Barthélemy (FRA)
* Saint Martin (FRA)
* Sint Maarten (NET)
* Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)
* United States Virgin Islands (USA)

Marginal seas|

* Bay of Campeche
* Caribbean Sea
* Charlotte Harbor Estuary
* Florida Bay
* Galveston Bay
* Gulf of Cazones
* Gulf of Darién
* Gulf of Gonâve
* Gulf of Honduras
* Gulf of Mexico
* Golfo de los Mosquitos
* Gulf of Paria
* Gulf of Urabá
* Gulf of Venezuela
* Lake Maracaibo
* Mobile Bay
* Pensacola Bay
* Vermilion Bay

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Earth's oceans and seas

Antarctic/Southern Ocean|

* Amundsen Sea
* Bellingshausen Sea
* Cooperation Sea
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* King Haakon VII Sea
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* Riiser-Larsen Sea
* Ross Sea
* Scotia Sea
* Somov Sea
* Weddell Sea

Arctic Ocean|

* Amundsen Gulf
* Barents Sea
* Beaufort Sea
* Chukchi Sea
* East Siberian Sea
* Greenland Sea
* Gulf of Boothia
* Kara Sea
* Laptev Sea
* Lincoln Sea
* Pechora Sea
* Prince Gustaf Adolf Sea
* Queen Victoria Sea
* Wandel Sea
* White Sea

Atlantic Ocean|

* Adriatic Sea
* Aegean Sea
* Alboran Sea
* American Mediterranean Sea
* Archipelago Sea
* Argentine Sea
* Baffin Bay
* Balearic Sea
* Baltic Sea
* Bay of Biscay
* Bay of Bothnia
* Bay of Campeche
* Bay of Fundy
* Black Sea
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* Caribbean Sea
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* English Channel
* Foxe Basin
* Greenland Sea
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* Gulf of Finland
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* Gulf of Maine
* Gulf of Mexico
* Gulf of Sidra
* Gulf of St. Lawrence
* Gulf of Venezuela
* Hudson Bay
* Ionian Sea
* Irish Sea
* Irminger Sea
* James Bay
* Labrador Sea
* Levantine Sea
* Libyan Sea
* Ligurian Sea
* Mediterranean Sea
* Myrtoan Sea
* North Sea
* Norwegian Sea
* Sargasso Sea
* Sea of Åland
* Sea of Azov
* Sea of Crete
* Sea of the Hebrides
* Sea of Marmara
* Thracian Sea
* Tyrrhenian Sea
* Wadden Sea

Indian Ocean|

* Andaman Sea
* Arabian Sea
* Bay of Bengal
* Flores Sea
* Great Australian Bight
* Gulf of Aden
* Gulf of Aqaba
* Gulf of Khambhat
* Gulf of Kutch
* Gulf of Oman
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* Laccadive Sea
* Mozambique Channel
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* Timor Sea

Pacific Ocean|

* Arafura Sea
* Bali Sea
* Banda Sea
* Bering Sea
* Bismarck Sea
* Bohai Sea
* Bohol Sea
* Camotes Sea
* Celebes Sea
* Chilean Sea
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* East China Sea
* Gulf of Alaska
* Gulf of Anadyr
* Gulf of California
* Gulf of Carpentaria
* Gulf of Fonseca
* Gulf of Panama
* Gulf of Thailand
* Gulf of Tonkin
* Halmahera Sea
* Java Sea
* Koro Sea
* Mar de Grau
* Molucca Sea
* Moro Gulf
* Philippine Sea
* Salish Sea
* Savu Sea
* Sea of Japan
* Sea of Okhotsk
* Seram Sea
* Seto Inland Sea
* Shantar Sea
* Sibuyan Sea
* Solomon Sea
* South China Sea
* Sulu Sea
* Tasman Sea
* Visayan Sea
* Yellow Sea

Endorheic basins|

* Aral Sea
* Caspian Sea
* Dead Sea
* Salton Sea

Others|

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