The Gulf of Mexico: A Marginal Sea, Not on a Continent

The Gulf of Mexico is not located on a continent. It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, bounded by the United States (north, east), Mexico (west, south), and Cuba (southeast). It connects to the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel and to the Atlantic via the Straits of Florida. Its basin formed from continental rifting and seafloor spreading in the Mesozoic.