Gulf of Mexico numerous bays and smaller inlets. A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi River and 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 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
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit 2014 held March 24–27 in Houston, Texas, Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía - INEGI) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi signed an agreement to cooperate in addressing some of the most complex issues relating to the Gulf. The agreement includes shared research projects, the interchange of findings, and other collaborations on issues ranging from the protection of endangered marine species to offshore drilling and contamination. The State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit 2017 will be held March 26–28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. The Deepwater Horizon oil