On the Geological and Physical Development of Guadeloupe

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I. Introduction My visit to Guadeloupe in March, 1897, was for the purpose of extending my observations of the later geological features of the Antilles southward from Antigua; especially those bearing upon the changes of level of land and sea since the early Miocene Period, and their necessary variation in adjacent localities. The features of the Guadeloupe archipelago present some striking contrasts to those of the Antigua-Barbuda plateau. The main island is divided into Guadeloupe and Grande Terre. The former is traversed by high mountains, surmounted by recent volcanoes, which are unrepresented in Antigua; but all these features are reproduced in Dominica and other islands of the western belt of the Lesser Antilles. Grande Terre is a limestone-country comparable with Antigua, and, therefore, forms the principal subject of this paper. The islands of Désirade, Petite Terre, Marie Galante, and The Saints, belong to the same physical unit as Guadeloupe—the three former having characteristics similar to those of Grande Terre, and the last, a group of seven islands, are remnants of the older volcanic rocks. This archipelago is dissected to much greater depths than the Antigua-Barbuda plateau, and shows modifications in the erosion-features, helping us to further understand the history of the Antillean plateau, most of which is now submerged. The earliest geological contributions appear to have been those of William Maclure, shortly afterwards followed by the writings of Alexandre Moreau de Jonnès. Maclure's paper, along with the studies of Pierre Duchassaing, constitutes our principal knowledge of the Tertiary formations of