Gulf of Paria

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The Gulf of Paria between Venezuela and Trinidad

The Gulf of Paria (/ˈpæriə/ PA-ree-ə;[1] Spanish: Golfo de Paria) is a

7,800 km2 (3,000 sq mi) shallow (180 m at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea
located between the island of Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and the east
coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries by as little as 15 km at its narrowest
and 120 km at its widest points. The tides within the Gulf are semi-diurnal in nature with
a range of approximately 1m.[2] The Gulf of Paria is considered to be one of the best
natural harbors on the Atlantic coast of the Americas. The jurisdiction of the Gulf of
Paria is split between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela with Trinidad and Tobago
having control over approximately 2,940 km2 (1,140 sq mi) (37.7%) and Venezuela the
remainder (62.3%).[3]
It was originally named the Gulf of the Whale (Spanish: Golfo de la Ballena)
by Christopher Columbus, but the 19th-century whaling industry eliminated whales from
the area and populations have never recovered. Cartographic sources of the late 18th
century repeatedly refer to it as the Sad Gulf (Spanish: Golfo Triste).[4]

Cedros Bay, with the Columbus Channel in the background

In the north, the Gulf is connected to the Caribbean Sea through the Dragons'

Mouths (Spanish: Bocas del Dragón) between the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela and
the Chaguaramas Peninsula of Trinidad. In the south, the Gulf is connected to the
Atlantic through the Columbus Channel, also known as the Serpent's Mouth
(Spanish: Boca de la Serpiente), between the Cedros Peninsula and the Orinoco Delta.
Panoramic view of Gulf of Paria looking south-east.

Contents

 1Oil and natural gas

 2Fisheries
 3Port and logistics
 4See also
 5References
 6Further reading
 7External links

Oil and natural gas[edit]

The Gulf of Paria lies entirely within the broad strike-slip plate boundary zone of the
southeastern Caribbean. The structure of the Gulf consists of a complex set of
transtensional basins superimposed on a fold-and-thrust belt (Serrania del Interior of
eastern Venezuela).[5] The petroleum of Trinidad has been generated by prolific Upper
Cretaceous source rocks, time equivalent to the La Luna and Querecual formations in
Columbia and Venezuela. These source rocks were then overlain by a thick succession
of Paleogene deep-water sediments (shales and deep water sandstones) and shallow
marine siliciclastic reservoir rocks. The transpression due to the influence of the
Caribbean plate created several sub-basins across the Trinidad area; each having
distinctive petroleum systems. The hydrocarbon basins in Trinidad are Southern Basin,
Columbus Basin, Carupano Basin, Central Range/Darrien Ridge Basin and the Caroni
Basin and Gulf of Paria Pull-apart Basin.[6]
The Caroni Basin is a Cenozoic basin bounded to the north by the El Pilar fault zone
and the Northern Range fold-thrust belt and to the south by the Central Range fold-
thrust belt. Its stratigraphy features a shallowing section from the Miocene which
overlies Palaeocene and Lower Cretaceous deep-water sediments. The Gulf of Paria is
the western offshore extension of the Caroni basin. However, its deformation is now
extensional due to the right-stepping of the dextral El Pilar fault to the dextral Warm
Springs fault. The Los Bajos fault separates the Gulf of Paria from the Southern basin
sediments. Natural gas has been discovered in the onshore Caroni basin while in the
Gulf of Paria, both oil and gas have been discovered. [7]
In 2021 an oil spill was discovered in the gulf. [8] Between 2018 and April 2021 there have
been 498 reported oil spills on land and at sea. There have been no resulting
prosecutions or fines by Trinidad and Tobago authorities. [9]
Fisheries[edit]
The Gulf of Paria is a brackish water body - wet season salinities are below 23 ppt
(parts per thousand) with extensive mangroves along the Venezuelan and Trinidadian
coastlines. This body of water is basically a shallow sedimentary basin with a maximum
depth of 30 m (16 fathoms) and a smooth substratum of fine mud with patches of shell
debris and sand (Kenny and Bacon, 1981). These conditions lend themselves to
favourable fisheries conditions and the Gulf itself is an important fishery (Heileman and
Ramsaroop, 1990). The proximity of the Orinoco Delta to the Gulf suggests that these
waters are strongly influenced by fluvial discharges from the Amazon and Orinoco River
systems, with the intensity of these discharges varying with the seasons (van Andel and
Postma, 1954; Gade, 1961). These rivers are thought to be important effectors of
nutrient enhancing upwelling currents on the adjacent continental shelf and sources of
primary and secondary productivity for the water around Trinidad, especially in the Gulf
(Farbes, 1983). As such, Trinidad supports a more productive and diverse exploitable
fish and invertebrate resource base than most of the Eastern Caribbean islands (Agard
et al. 1996). The Gulf of Paria is the most important fishing ground for shrimp and finfish
in Trinidad.[10]
In recent years, Venezuelan pirates have threatened fishermen operating in the region.
[11]

Port and logistics[edit]

Major ports located within the Gulf of Paria basin include:

 The Port of Port of Spain[12]

 Plipdeco's Port of Point Lisas in Couva[13]
 Port of San Fernando
 Port of Point Fortin
 Pedernales in Venezuela's Delta Amacuro state
 Oldendorff Carriers floating facility - Oldendorff
Carriers have been operating a floating facility
consisting of two cranes, within Trinidadian waters
since 2012, for the purpose of transshipment of iron
ore from Santana, Brazil to the Middle and the Far
East.[14]

See also[edit]
 Piracy off the coast of Venezuela

References[edit]
1. ^ TTT Live Online (2022-06-29).  "Weather Outlook - Tuesday
June 28th 2022". YouTube.  Archived  from the original on 2022-
07-07. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
 2. ^ https://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/
athens/papers/wsh2/WSH2_3_Neale.pdf[bare URL PDF]
3. ^ United States Department of State
4. ^ Mapa de la ysla de Trinidad. Archivo General de Indias.
Unidad: Mapas y Planos. Signatura: MP-Venezuela, 185. Portal
de Archivos Españoles
5. ^ Flinch, J.F.; Rambaran, V.; Ali, W.; Lisa, V. De; Hernández,
G.; Rodrigues, K.; Sams, R. (1999). "Chapter 17 Structure of the
Gulf of Paria pull-apart basin (Eastern Venezuela-
Trinidad)".  Sedimentary Basins of the World. 4: 477–
494.  doi:10.1016/S1874-5997(99)80051-3. ISBN 97804448264
97.
6. ^ http://www.energy.gov.tt/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/
petroleum_geo.pdf[bare URL PDF]
7. ^ http://www.firstmagazine.com/Krishna[permanent dead link] Persad.pdf
8. ^ "Alarm over spill into the Gulf of Paria".
9. ^ ‘It’s outrageous’: Trinidadian fishers film ‘half-hearted’ oil spill
clean-up The Guardian, 2021
10. ^ "Archived copy"  (PDF). Archived from the original  (PDF) on
2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
11. ^ Franklin, Jonathan (30 January 2018). "Venezuelan Pirates
Rule the Most Lawless Market on Earth". Bloomberg. Bloomberg
Businessweek. Retrieved 26 October  2020.
12. ^ "Home - Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago".
13. ^ "Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation - Home".
14. ^ "Oldendorff Carriers – Transshipment Operations in Trinidad".

Further reading[edit]
 Anthony, Michael (2001). Historical Dictionary of
Trinidad and Tobago. Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham,
Md., and London. ISBN 978-0-8108-3173-5.
 Stephen Babb, PhD (1997). "Tectonics and
Sedimentation of the Gulf of Paria and Northern Basin,
Trinidad". The University of Texas at Austin. Archived
from the original on 2005-08-02. Retrieved 26
July 2015.

External links[edit]
 Media related to Gulf of Paria at Wikimedia CommonsCoordinates:  10°23′N 62°21′W

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