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.