The Geology of the Cayman Islands (British West Indies), and their Relation to the Bartlett Trough

Abstract

The Cayman Islands, a small dependency of the British Empire, with a local government controlled by the Government of Jamaica, occupy an isolated position of exceptional interest, both geographical and geological, in the Caribbean Sea. Situated between Jamaica and Cuba, and flanked on the south by the great depression of the Bartlett Trough, which descends over 20,000 feet within 18 miles of the shores of Grand Cayman, they are the only projecting peaks in the submarine ridge that extends from the Sierra Maestra of Cuba to the Misteriosa Bank in the direction of British Honduras. This ridge, though a recognized submarine feature, is irregular, and a depression of 7000 feet lies in it between Grand Cayman and the Lesser Caymans. The dependency consists of three islands, of which the two smaller, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, are separated by only 4 miles of sea, while the third, Grand Cayman, is about 60 miles away. Cayman Brac is situated about 125 miles north-west of Montego Bay (Jamaica), and Grand Cayman lies 178 miles west-north-west of Negril Point, the nearest point of Jamaica, and about 150 miles from the Isle of Pines (Cuba). The combined area of the three islands is about 100 square miles. Columbus discovered the Lesser Caymans in 1503, and named them ‘Las Tortugas’, as the shores were swarming with turtle. Grand Cayman was discovered at some later unknown date, and is first recorded in history as being in the occupation of Spanish buccaneers. Europeans appear to have been