SUBMERGED CORAL REEFS, WEST COAST OF BARBADOS, WEST INDIES

Abstract

Seven sonar profiles of the sea floor were made at 3–mile intervals approximately perpendicular to the west coast of Barbados, W.I. Evidence from these profiles, first-hand observations, and deep-sea camera photographs indicate that two submerged barrier reefs parallel the coast at approximate depths of 70 and 230 ft. A trench is present in a deeper part of the sloping sea floor behind a small ridge at an average depth of 619 ft.The positions of the submerged barrier reefs probably were controlled by pauses in the post-Pleistocene eustatic rise in sea level. The First Ridge was established on an erosional terrace that could have been cut during a stillstand between 12 500 and 11 500 years B.P. The Second Ridge may have been established on a narrow ledge eroded during a stillstand between 16 500 and 15 000 years B.P. The trench appears to have resulted from faulting or submarine outcropping of Tertiary sedimentary rocks.