On the Geological and Physical Development of the St. Christopher Chain and Saba Banks

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Abstract
I. Introduction The islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Christopher, Nevis, Redonda, and Montserrat form the interrupted extension of the mountain-district of Guadeloupe, constituting a succession of volcanic ridges, surmounting the Caribbean side of the eruptive belt, which is seen to have a breadth, at sea-level, of 35 miles. The Saba Banks, situated upon the south-western side of the eruptive backbone of the Antillean chain, correspond to the sunken areas of the St. Martin-Anguilla and Antigua-Barbuda banks, upon the eastern side. William Maclure's contributions in the early part of the nineteenth century refer to some of these islands. Mr. P. T. Cleve's paper is, however, the most valuable geological publication on the subject. Locally, Dr. Christian Branch and his father have given much attention to the natural history of St. Kitts, and they kindly conducted me to many points of interest. St. Christopher, everywhere in the West Indies called St. Kitts, with St. Eustatius, called Statia, on one side, and Nevis on the other, form a trisected ridge, fringed by a narrow submarine coastal plain, sunk to a depth of between 80 and 140 feet, which last rises above the floor of the submarine Antillean plateau to a height of between 2000 and 2700 feet or more. Saba is an isolated volcanic cone rising out of equally deep water; and Montserrat, to the south-east, is another island of more varying character along the same axis. This submarine chain, which is about 100 miles long, does not exceed a breadth of

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