Dominica, volcanic pearl of the Caribbean-

an overview
dfm / July 18, 2014

When musing about the Caribbean islands’ Volcanoes, a few names will pop up at once, like
Soufriere Hills on Montserrat, Pelée mount in Martinique, Grande Soufrière in Guadeloupe
and maybe Kick’em Jenny. The area being rife with volcanoes and the imagination of the
early settlers being limited, some people will add Soufriere St Vincent and also maybe the one
on St Lucia and its famous Pitons.
The Caribbean Arc Volcanoes

One island is in my mind under represented, and I’ll try to explain why.

A small riddle to begin : Which island can boast 9 potentially active volcanoes, a cold
fumarolic zone plus several extended fumarolic fields including the world’s second largest
boiling water lake ? Yes, this is Dominica.

It is located between the french islands of Martinique (to the south) and Guadeloupe (to the
north).

It is a bit smaller than its neigbours (only 750 km2) and is much less populated (about 72
thousand people compared to the 386 and 405 thousands of Martinique and Guadeloupe). It is
an independant state since 1978, and a former British dominion.

The topography of the island is very rugged.

The ubiquitous Columbus discovered the island on 3rd November 1493, a Sunday, hence the
name. Speaking of imagination….

The Carib indians descendants or Kalinagos, which are the last living in the Caribbean, are
still about 3000 strong and have their own territory and elected chief, prefer to call her
“Wai‘tu kubuli” meaning “her body is tall”, which shows some sense of observation. Indeed,
were it not for the Grande Soufrière on the nearby Basse Terre, Mount Diablotins, at 1447 m
could have claimed the title for highest mountain of the Caribbean arc.

As with many islands in this region, Dominica’s history has seen a series of fierce rivalry
between the British, the French, the Spanish and the Caribs, with the British winning in the
end in this case. However, as the first settlers were of french descent, local Creole or Pidgin
language is rather french based and a lot of locations bear french sounding names.

On a more broad geological point of vue, Dominica is part of the Caribbean arc, but shows
some specificities.

First, it is the last of the windward islands, but also the first of the Leewards islands
(according to Wikipedia). So it’s kindda in the middle. Choose for yourself.

Also this the last “single” island. Afterwards, the island chain divides to the north, with the
eastward islands being mainly of sedimentary nature (Grande Terre, Marie Galante, Antigua,
Barbuda….) and the westward islands being of Volcanic origin (Basse Terre, Montserrat,
Redonda, St Kitts, Nevis, Saba).

Also and this is one of the main difference points, the island is the only one sporting several
active (or potentially active) volcanic complexes on the same emerged part. If you check the
other neighbour islands, there is the Grande Soufrière, Soufriere Hills, Mount Pelée, The
Quill, but for each of these islands there is only one active volcanic complex. Unfortunately,
very little is known of the submarine structures in the arc, except for Kick’em Jenny which
has been quite studied, as recently as last year (see the Nautilus expedition for some
spectacular footage – http://www.nautiluslive.org/).
General Map of Dominica

Geology

Unsurprisingly, Dominica is nearly made entirely of volcanic rocks. Some exceptions exist,
but are very limited in area and number. Contrary to the northern neighbor Marie Galante,
which is called “La galette” due to its flat topography, and is made of sedimentary rocks.

Volcanic rocks from different geological area can be found since the Miocene. The oldest
rocks date back to 6,92 Ma or possibly 13 Ma. Some volcanic centers stopped being active
and suffered from erosion even as new volcanic areas were and are active.

There are also submarine volcanic domes which were identified to the north of the island to
the south of Guadeloupe. The 2 domes which are referred as “Twin Peaks”, rise from 1000 m
from the sea floor and the highest peak reaches 153 m below sea levek.

There is another smaller submarine dome some distance from the NW coast, over 700 m high
and culminating at 550 m depth.

“Twin Peaks” – and location off the coast

It is not known if these domes are potentially active.

About 1 Ma ago volcanic activity switched from the northern part of the island (with some
residuals) to the south.
Six major volcanic centers were active since the Younger pleistocene to present.

Morne trois pitons, morne Watt, Wotten wave/Micotrin, Grand soufriere hills (again!), Morne
anglais, and plat pays volcanic complex. Finally there is the Valley of desolation, a very active
fumarolic fields in which you find the famous Boiling lake (to get there you need an 8 hour
trek in the jungle). The boiling lake in a flooded fumarole at the bottom of a small lake (the
total length is about 60 m in diameter)

Some very active Fumaroles in the Valley of Desolation – photo by author

The valley of desolation fumarolic field – general view – the Boiling lake is at the top of the
picture – photo by author
The Boiling Lake – 2nd biggest boiling lake in the world – photo by author

The linguistically inclined have already noted that most of the places name sound french…
because they are. Morne is a creole word meaning mount or hill. Piton is a peak, Plat Pays
means flat land.

The most recent activity happened between 50 000 to 450 BP. All these centres have had some
rather recent seismic activity, and together with Morne aux Diables and Morne Diablotins are
considered potentially active centers.
Dominica’s potentially live volcanic centers

Again I disgress to explains place’s names. Diables and Diablotins means devil and little
devils. This does not refer to any surnatural creature but are just the names of now extinct
birds, which fell prey to the first rats brought by the early settlers and to the settlers
themselves.
Le Père Labat – swashbuckling & picaresque Dominican Monk

They were described (including explanations on how to capture and cook them) by the
famous Père Labat, a monk of the Dominican order, friend of the french flibustiers, who
swashbuckled in all the Caribbean area between 1694 and 1705 and introduced the distilling
rum still. A fiery 59° rum from Marie Galante is named in his honour. He made also some
visit to the Soufrière of Guadeloupe which he described in his book.

A drawing from Labat’s memoirs of the Soufriere of guadeloupe and of a Diable bird

Seismicity in Dominica
Earthquake swarms have been felt by the population since the early settlers.

Events were reported in 1765, 1841(North),1849,1893 (North), and 1937/1938.

Since 1953 and the installation of the first seismic network, there were swarms in
1959,1967,1971, 1976, 1985/86, 1994/95, 1997 and 1998/2000. There were some swarm in
the north in 2000 and 2003.

Since 2000 the seismic background level seems to be higher.

In the south more than the majority of the swarms have been associated with the Morne Plat
Pays Volcanic complex. Between 1998 and 2000 there were about 1500 earthquakes in that
region and even if the frequency has diminished it is still more elevated that before the
swarms onset. This swarm is rather shallow (2 to 6 km depth) and could be the result of
magma repressurisation.

South seismicity 2002

In the north, the Morne aux Diables and Morne Diablotin volcanic area has shown more than
500 events between 2000 and 2003.
Northern Seismicity 2003

Conclusion

Dominica is a destination of choice for the volcanically inclined. The island can boast several
interesting or unique volcanic features and can provide very interesting excursions.
Dominicans are a very friendly people and try to preserve their island from the evil of mass
tourism. If some people are interested I can provide information on how to get there and who
to contact.

Source Jan M. Lindsay, Alan L. Smith M. John Roobol and Mark V. Stasiuk Dominica,
Chapter for Volcanic Hazards Atlas,
http://www.uwiseismic.com/downloads/dominica_vha.pdf

Here are Matt´s riddles! This week the answers could be volcanoes, volcanic or geologic
features.
1) The two images. Answer: Bishop Tuff, KarenZ, 2 points.

2) Holy Moses! Tiny Tim has a tomahawk and a walleye! Answer: Coso volcanic field. This
field is in the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, which developed the Tomahawk,
Tiny Tim, Walleye, and Holy Moses missiles. Sissel, 2 points.

3) The division of the Trinity. Answer: Rio Grande rift. The Trinity site, where the first
nuclear bomb was detonated, is at the White Sands missile range in this rift. Talla and
Bobbi, 1 point each.

4) It’s dot zero west of Denver. Answer: Dotsero volcano, a marr in Colorado, which
erupted only about 4400 years ago! Inannamoon667, 2 points.

5) Pink Floyd and Luke’s father know where it is. It’s radioactive. Answer: Compton
Belkovich thorium anomaly (This is a volcanic feature on the dark side of the moon,
possibly a caldera. This is unusual, because almost all of the moon’s lavas are on the
side facing earth. It was revealed because of the detection of thorium deposits.
Someday, it might be a good place to mine rare-earth elements. Bobbi, 2 points.

Score board:
7 Sissel
3 KarenZ
3 Inannamoon667
2 Dinojura44
1 Bobbi
1 RenatoRio

MATT

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July 18, 2014 in Science, Volcano. Tags: boiling lake, caribbean, dominica, Père Labat,
riddles

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Post navigation
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Activity at Katla and Bárdarbunga →

145 thoughts on “Dominica, volcanic pearl of the

Caribbean- an overview”

Comment navigation
← Older Comments

1. tgmccoy

July 19, 2014 at 22:05

Great post! Having a Barbadian ancestor, a daughter of a customer that my grx3

granpa served as a ship Captain.
Always wanted to see that part of the Caribbean.

Reply

o dfm

July 20, 2014 at 07:58

Hi TG
Barbadian ! You’re from a travelling family indeed.

Reply

2. GeoLurking

July 19, 2014 at 23:45

Yay…. Tooth monster won’t shut up. He’s at the glass door barking at a rabbit in the
front yard. Though alert, the rabbit doesn’t seem overly concerned.

Reply

3. GeoLurking

July 20, 2014 at 04:59

Reply

4. chryphia

July 20, 2014 at 08:48

Incandescence at the summit of San Miguel / Chaparrastique a few hours ago.

Reply
5. Down Under

July 20, 2014 at 11:08

Nice post!

I dont know why I read the title Demacia instead of Dominica xD

Reply

o dfm

July 20, 2014 at 16:13

Hi

Hey, the Fromelles museum is now open – not far from where I live. Respect
to these guys from down under who came over here.

Reply

6. Gilles

July 20, 2014 at 13:21

Le père Labat in a VC post! Surprise I buy a bottle every time I go back in

France. 59% yet very drinkable and tasty.

BTW, completely out of subject I just found a very interesting document about the
massive Cantal volcano in France (lost in the rubble of touristic websites):

http://www2.brgm.fr/volcan/cantalbvolc.pdf

Very well known touristic destination, yet not so famous volcano-wise. Probably

because of its well-earned retirement

Reply

o dfm

July 20, 2014 at 16:10

Salut Gilles
 I know why there are some bottles of 59° rhum which are yellow tinted and
some are not. But here is

the boiler of the distillery – probably a unique piece considering the design

and the distilling column – also unique – and made of copper

Reply

 Michael nobel

July 20, 2014 at 21:53

That looks distinctly Like a converted steam locomotive from late

1800’s. And why not? It Will most likely produce gallons of fine tasting
high powered caribbean rum! Fine piece of work.

Reply

 Gilles

July 21, 2014 at 19:17

Nice pictures, thanks! I find the low-tech design rather reassuring

It definitely isn’t some mass-produced artificial stuff!

Reply

7. chryphia

July 21, 2014 at 09:35

Incandescence at Chaparrastique seems to be increasing and RSAM is still high

around 1100 to 1200 units, compared to 50 normally.
 From: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpfipqQ9rdyJOBKHcdSfkDQ

Reply

8. cbus20122

July 21, 2014 at 14:18

Del volcán Chaparrastique podríamos esperar coladas de lava por sus flancos. No
esperamos una erupción fuertísima”, Eduardo Gutiérrez

Google Translate – Chaparrastique the volcano we would expect lava flows by their
sides. We do not expect a very strong eruption, “Eduardo Gutiérrez

This seems fairly logical to me, although Chaparrastique has clearly had smaller
explosive eruptions as well as lava flows. The lava flows can be seen all over the
volcano, mostly going out towards the ocean. If you fly over the volcano on google
earth, you can easily see the areas where lava flows were most recently deposited.

With that said, the crater indicates a potential for explosive eruptions – you don’t like
that just from lava flows. I wouldn’t expect anything huge from this volcano, but it
should be fun to watch once it starts erupting! Hopefully the locals stay safe and won’t
have any large property damage.
 Reply

9. Carl

July 21, 2014 at 17:46

New post is up!

https://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/activity-at-katla-and-bardarbunga/

Reply

10. Bruce S.

July 26, 2014 at 21:03

must be time for winter to come so as I spend more time on the inner webs… trying
hard to keep up. Almost missed this post. Great one dfm! Really intriguing!

Reply

o dfm

July 27, 2014 at 07:47

Thanks

Yes, this island has really interesting features.

Reply