What is the differance between a Gulf and a Sea?

Question

Example the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea what makes one a sea and the other a gulf

Answer 1

It depends on usage mostly. Sea is a general time for the global ocean that is connected, a large body of water. Exceptions are Caspian Sea, Dead sea which are deep depressions filled with salt water sustaining inland drainage (into which rivers drain; Rivers Volga and Ural drain into Caspian Sea). Sea is generally associated with land adjacent to it. Ocean is farther and deeper in contrast.

Gulf is flanked by land except on one side that is connected to sea. Gulf of Mexico is big enough to qualify as sea. Prominent and well marked gulfs are - Persian gulf, Suez gulf; Gulfs of Oman, Aden, Aqaba, Khambat (Cambay), Cutch, Mannar, Martaban, Siam, Carpentaria, Tonkin, Guinea, Bothnia, Finland, Alaska, St.Lawrence, California, Campeche, Honduras. Sulawesi, the uniquely 'K' shaped island of Indonesia has (Teluk) Tomini, Tolo & Bone.

Answer 2

A gulf is part of an ocean that is surrounded by land on three sides.  A true sea is almost completely land-locked with only a small pass to the ocean.  In olden days though the sea was synonymous with ocean; hence the seven seas phrase!

Answer 3

A gulf is a dip into land, sea is open water

Answer 4

the gulf of mexico is right up along the coast line of mexico the sea idk

Answer 5

Gulfs tend to be nearly surrounded by land, such as the Gulf of Mexico. The Mediterranean extends a bit farther and is almost like an ocean.

Answer 6

i think Gulf is more in the middle of to sides and

Sea is more open Seas

Answer 7

The difference is in name only.  Both the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of México are both large bodies of water almost completely surrounded by land, but only connected to the open ocean by small amounts.

When it comes to the names of water bodies, there is no hard and fast rule.  Generally, an ocean is larger than a sea, a sea is larger than a gulf, and a gulf is larger than a bay.  But there are more exceptions to the rule than anything else.  The Bay of Bengal is larger than most seas!

Most gulfs are wide open to the ocean on one or two sides, whereas most seas are more enclosed by land, usually by some combination of continents and/or by lines of islands (even tiny ones spaced far apart are enough to make a boundary in some cases).  However, the Gulf of México (like the Mediterranean Sea) is almost entirely enclosed by land, while the Arabian Sea (like the Gulf of Alaska) is so open to the ocean it's hard to even say exactly where one ends and the ocean begins.

There seem to be three kinds of seas:  enclosed, open, and saltwater lakes.  The Red Sea has only one small opening to the ocean and is enclosed by continents.  The Phillipine Sea is almost entirely surrounded by small islands, and is not adjacent to a continent at all.  The Caspian Sea is actually a saltwater lake located in the middle of Eurasia and not connected to the ocean at all.

So, it's a name thing, only, and quite chaotic when you look at it.  In fact, a water body that's a gulf in one language might be a sea in another!  For example: the Gulf of California (English) is the same water body as the Mar de Cortés (Spanish for "Sea of Cortez").

Answer 8

a gulf is an extensive inlet or large bay in a coast.

an ocean is a vast expanse of water which surrounds the globe (covers over 70% of the Earth's surface)

Answer 9

a gulf is like a large bay but more open