Barbados Is Hiding Something Nobody Talks About

The highest point in Barbados is a field of sugar cane. Under its east coast lie rocks laid down on the deep ocean floor, from sand that washed off South America. A tower on its easternmost cliff has been catching dust from Africa since the 1960s. And the whole island is slowly rising out of the sea, while the sea around it rises faster. Every other island in the eastern Caribbean was built by volcanoes. Barbados wasn’t. It sits alone, about 160 km outside the volcanic arc, with no volcano at all. Its land climbs from the sea in a staircase of old coral reefs, its water is filtered by coral, and in the Scotland District the reef cap breaks open to show what’s underneath. Thirty facts, counting down, and by number one you’ll see why most of them trace back to one thing that is being done to this island, and is still being done. If you’re from Barbados, or your family is, tell me in the comments which parish you’re from. If you’ve walked the Scotland District, or you were on the island when the ash from St. Vincent came down in April 2021, or when Hurricane Elsa hit that July, I want that story too. Subscribe to Beneath the Islands for more places that are hiding something. Sources: Government of Barbados, Ministry of Energy and Business (Geology and Mining; Barbados Geology Tour); Schellmann & Radtke (2003), Pleistocene coral reef terraces on southern Barbados; Broecker et al. (1968), Science; Fairbanks (1989) and later Barbados sea-level record studies; Peltier & Fairbanks (2006); Speed (1994, 2004), Northwestern University; University of Miami Rosenstiel School, Barbados Atmospheric Chemistry Observatory (Ragged Point); U.S. Geological Survey, Muhs et al. (1990), Quaternary Research; UCC / UNEP GEMS-Water, groundwater research in Barbados; Deposits Magazine, field guide to Barbados; Mount Gay Distilleries; Associated Press, Hurricane Elsa (2021). Full source list available on request. #Barbados #Caribbean #Geography #Geology #BeneathTheIslands