- Source: Leeward Antilles
The Leeward Antilles (Dutch: Benedenwindse Eilanden; Spanish: islas de Sotavento) are a chain of islands in the Caribbean, specifically part of the southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles (and, in turn, the Antilles and the West Indies) along the southeastern fringe of the Caribbean Sea, just north of the Venezuelan coast of the South American mainland. The Leeward Antilles, while among the Lesser Antilles, are not to be confused with the Leeward Islands (also of the Lesser Antilles) to the northeast.
Largely lacking in volcanic activity, the Leeward Antilles island arc occurs along the deformed southern edge of the Caribbean Plate and was formed by the plate's subduction under the South American Plate. Recent studies indicate that the Leeward Antilles are accreting to South America.
Islands
The Leeward Antilles comprise (roughly from west to east):
ABC islands (a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Bonaire, a part of the Caribbean Netherlands (public body of the Netherlands proper)
Curaçao, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Federal Dependencies of Venezuela
La Blanquilla Island
La Orchila Island
La Sola Island
La Tortuga Island
Las Aves Archipelago
Los Frailes Archipelago
Los Hermanos Archipelago
Los Monjes Archipelago
Los Roques Archipelago
Los Testigos Islands
Patos Island
State of Nueva Esparta (Venezuela)
Coche Island
Cubagua Island
Margarita Island
State of Falcón (Venezuela)
Paraguaná/Cora Island
Notes
References
Levander, Alan, et al. 2006 (28 February). Evolution of the Southern Caribbean Plate Boundary. (abstract; article) Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 87(9): 97,100.
Levander, Alan, et al. 2006 (accessed 27 August). Collaborative Research: Crust-Mantle Interactions During Continental Growth and High-Pressure Rock Exhumation at an Oblique Arc-Continent Collision Zone: Geology of Northeastern Venezuela. SE Caribbean Plate Boundary Continental Dynamics Project. Houston, TX: Rice University.
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Antilles
- Antilles Leeward
- Antillen Kecil
- Kepulauan Leeward
- Kepulauan ABC
- Antillen Belanda
- Kepulauan Windward
- Antigua dan Barbuda
- Saint Lucia
- Barbuda
- Leeward Antilles
- ABC islands (Leeward Antilles)
- Lesser Antilles
- Leeward Islands
- Antilles
- Netherlands Antilles
- Dutch Caribbean
- Windward and leeward
- Windward Islands
- West Indies