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Bay of Campeche Facts

Bay of Campeche Facts
The Bay of Campeche is located in an area of the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered to be a blight being surrounded on three sides by Veracruz, Tabasco, and Campeche, which are all Mexican states. The Bay of Campeche is approximately 6,000 square miles in size and has a maximum depth of 180 feet. The Bay of Campeche was named in 1517 by Anton de Alamos and Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba during their expedition to the area.
Interesting Bay of Campeche Facts:
In June and July the Bay of Campeche is considered a breeding ground for hurricanes in the Atlantic. It can also be considered a hurricane for graveyards as well, because it has weak currents that can cause a hurricane to stall and starve.
The Bay of Campeche is on the eastern edge of the major bird migration route in the Americas.
There are five oil fields owned by the Cantarell Complex in the Bay of Campeche. By 2003 it was the world's second most productive oil field but it began to decline steeply afterwards. Up until then it had been supplying 2/3rds of the crude oil output in Mexico.
The third largest unintentional oil spill in the world's history occurred in the Bay of Campeche in 1979. A massive explosion occurred after an exploratory oil well had a blowout. It is estimated that 300,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the accident.
Rivers that flow into the Bay of Campeche include the Candelaria, Usumacinta, Grijalva, Coatzacoalcos, and Papaloapan.


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