Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs

2011 Edition
| Editors: David Hopley

Barbados

  • David Hopley
  • Ian G. Macintyre
Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_184
How to cite

Introduction

Barbados is situated at 13° 10′ north, about 150 km east of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The island is 32 km long, 23 km broad at its widest dimension, and towards the central interior attains a maximum elevation of 340 m.

Lying just east of the Lesser Antillean volcanic forearc, Barbados is a pinnacle on the broad accretionary prism caused by east-west convergence between the North American and Caribbean plates (Speed and Larue, 1982). The island is composed of a core of deformed Eocene to Neogene marine sediments, exposed in the north-east as the Scotland District, capped by a series of gently buckled reef terraces that record its rapid and differential uplift during the Pleistocene (Taylor and Mann, 1991).

Pleistocene reef terraces

Fifteen separate Pleistocene reef terraces (Figures 1 and 2) have been identified in this coral cap and represent an episodic record of reef development from 640 ka to 60 ka (Broecker et al., 1968; Mesolella et al., 1969;...
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • David Hopley
    • 1
  • Ian G. Macintyre
    • 2
  1. 1.School of Earth and Environmental SciencesJames Cook UniversityTownsvilleAustralia
  2. 2.Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonUSA