by Diane Hodge

Created on: July 11, 2008

EXPLORING THE CARIBBEAN: VOLCANOES

The Eastern Caribbean is comprised of two island arcs; the outer arc whose volcanoes have died out their 30 million year existence and the inner arc which is still on the crack between the two tectonic plates and whose 15 million year lifespan has not been long enough to put out their volcanic fires.
Even though some have not been active for the past five hundred years, those inner islands all have the brooding lushness of what seems to be imminent explosion. Their green is a green that is different from that of the older islands. They are also all higher.

The northernmost one is Saba, just five square miles of mountain, with an airport which is visibly some lava that was forced out from the mountain and whose crater no one has yet been able to identify. Right next to it is Sint Eustatius, known to us as Statia, which gave the US its first international salute back in the 18th century. Its volcano the Quill, is one of the world's most beautiful volcanoes, where tourists take hikes down into the crater.

The third one down is Saint Kitts, the Mother Colony of the West Indies', and whose volcano used to be aptly called Mount Misery, but is now known as Mount Liamuiga, from the island's Carib name. its crater walls do justice to the feeling of Misery. Its national sister, Nevis, barely two miles away at its closest point reminded Columbus of Santa Maria de la Nieves in Spain. Clouds frequently ring the top of this lovely mountain.

Then came the eruption on Montserrat barely a decade ago. Its capital city and airport buried under a pyroclastic flow. Nineteen lives were lost in the eruption. The next island in the chain also rumbles every now and then, Guadeloupe's Soufriere caused evacuations in the 1970's. Dominica is well-behaved at the moment, but Martinique's Mont Pele has been very active over the past century. In 1902 there were 30.000 people lost due to the fact that elections were due to take place and the Mayor wanted people to stay in town and vote. The town has never been the same since.

Saint Lucia has the world's only drive-in volcano and offers a look straight into Hell. Saint Vincent's Soufriere chose Good Friday, April 13, 1977 to flex its muscles and covered Mesopotamia Valley in ash. Grenada's Grand Etang is located in its volcano's crater and is visited by many. A Grenadian insult is You're a Grand Etang monkey'.

One may wonder why people choose to live near these dangerous mountains. They add to the size of the location they occupy. Montserrat has grown some since its volcano erupted in the nineties. It also fertilizes the area. Their danger may be real but their beauty is also just as real, and this has to be one of the reasons that people refuse to leave even during eruptions.

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