Flower Garden Bank National Marine Sanctuary (marine sanctuary)
Coordinates:
Lat: 27 55 12 N degrees minutes
Lat: 27.9200 decimal degrees
Long: 093 42 36 W degrees minutes
Long: -93.7100 decimal degrees
Note: Located about 110 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary comprises the northernmost coral reefs in the United States, rising to within 66 feet of the ocean surface. The Banks themselves are surface expressions of salt domes whose formation began 160 to 170 million years ago in what was a shallow sea.