Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Trinidad and Tobago

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Landscapes and Landforms of the Lesser Antilles

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

Abstract

The nation of Trinidad and Tobago comprises the two southeastern-most islands in the Caribbean. Despite being neighbors and part of the same nation, the two islands have markedly different geology, landforms and landscapes. The geologic framework of these islands is the result of protracted and complex tectonism associated with Mesozoic rifting of Pangaea, circum-Caribbean subduction, and currently, Caribbean-South American transform plate motion. Tectonism, climatic shifts, and associated sea-level fluctuations throughout the Quaternary have shaped the islands’ wetlands, drainage systems, modern and ancient reefs, marine terraces, and morphology of their shallow continental shelf. The islands proximity to mainland South America resulted in unique and diverse biota of continental origin and also had a marked influence on the migration and settlement of the earliest people in the West Indies. The natural landscapes, as well as society, and policies, of Trinidad and Tobago have been affected by agriculture, mining, urban development, and the hydrocarbon industry. Continued natural and human-induced environmental change, particularly related to sea-level rise, will lead to dramatic changes of the islands’ landscapes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alexander HJ, Taylor JS, Wu SS-T, Breden F (2006) Parallel evolution and vicariance in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Evolution 60(11):2353–2369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Algar S, Pindell J (1993) Structure and deformation history of the Northern Range of Trinidad and adjacent areas. Tectonics 12(4):814–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arkle JC, Weber J, Enkelmann E, Owen LA (2014) Exhumation in the Southeast Caribbean plate corner. In: Abs., Thermo 2014—the 14th international thermochronology conference, Chamonix, France, 8–12 Sept 2014

    Google Scholar 

  • Arkle JC, Owen LA, Weber J, Moonan M, Enkelmann E (2015) Late Neogene-recent evolution of the Northern Range, Trinidad. In: Abs., Caribbean geological conference, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 17–21 May 2015

    Google Scholar 

  • Babb S, Mann P (1999) Structural and sedimentary development of a Neogene transpressional plate boundary between the Caribbean and south America plates in Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria. In: Mann P (ed) Sedimentary Basins of the World, Caribbean Basins. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 495–557

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker PA, Fritz SC (2015) Nature and causes of quaternary climate variation of tropical South America. Quat Sci Rev 124:31–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barr KW (1963) The geology of the Toco District, Trinidad, W.I., overseas geological surveys. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomert A (2000) Trinidad, Tobago, and the Lower Orinoco interaction sphere: an archaeological/ethnohistorical study. Cairi Publications, Alkmaar, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomert A (2002) Amerindian-European encounters on and around Tobago (1498–ca. 1810). Antropológica 97(98):71–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomert A (2009) Between the Mainland and the islands: the Amerindian cultural geography of Trinidad. Bull Peabody Museum Nat Hist 50(1):63–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomert A (2013) Gateway to the mainland. The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology, p 141

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouchon C, Portillo P, Bouchon-Navaro Y, Louis M, Hoetjes P, De Meyer K, Macrae D, Armstrong H, Datadin V, Harding S, Mallela J, Parkinson R, van Bochove J, Wynne S, Lirman D, Herlan J, Baker A, Collado L, Nimrod S, Mitchell J, Morrall C, Isaac C (2008) Chapter 19. Status of coral reefs of the Lesser Antilles: The French West Indies, The Netherlands Antilles, Anguilla, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago. In: Wilkinson C (ed) Status of coral reefs of the world 2008. Global Coral Reef Monitoring and Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Townsville, Australia, pp 265–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerveny PF, Snoke AW (1993) Thermochronologic data from Tobago, West Indies: constraints on the cooling and accretion history of Mesozoic oceanic-arc rocks in the southern Caribbean. Tectonics 12(2):433–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby CJ, Prentice CS, Weber JC, Ragona D (2009) Logs of paleoseismic excavations across the Central Range fault, Trinidad. US Geological Survey Open-File Report, 2331–1258

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruz L, Fayon A, Teyssier C, Weber JC (2007) Exhumation and deformation processes in transpressional orogens: the Venezuelan Paria Península, SE Caribbean-South American plate boundary. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 434:149–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Darlington J (1993) Recent work on the caves of Trinidad and Tobago. Acta Carsologica 22:77–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Darsan J, Alexis C (2014) The impact of makeshift sandbag groynes on coastal geomorphology: a case study at Columbus Bay, Trinidad. Environ Nat Resour Res 4(1):94

    Google Scholar 

  • Darsan J, Ramnath S, Alexis C (2012) Status of beaches and bays in Trinidad 2004–2008. Technical Report, Institute of Marine Affairs, Hilltop Lane, Chaguaramas, p 214

    Google Scholar 

  • Darsan J, Asmath H, Jehu A (2013) Flood-risk mapping for storm surge and tsunami at Cocos Bay (Manzanilla) Trinidad. J Coast Conserv 17(3):679–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day MJ, Chenoweth MS (2004) The karstlands of Trinidad and Tobago, their land use and conservation. Geogr J 170(3):256–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day MJ, Mueller W (2004) Aves (birds). In: Gunn J (ed) The encyclopedia of caves and karst science. Taylor and Francis, New York, pp 130–131

    Google Scholar 

  • de Verteuil L, Ramlal B, Weber J (2006) Trinidad geological GIS, module 1- surface geology and geography. Latinum, Ltd., Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMets C, Gordon RG, Argus DF, Stein S (1994) Effect of recent revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale on estimates of current plate motions. Geophys Res Lett 21(20):2191–2194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deville E, Guerlais SH (2009) Cyclic activity of mud volcanoes: evidences from Trinidad (SE Caribbean). Mar Pet Geol 26(9):1681–1691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deville E, Battani A, Griboulard R, Guerlais S, Herbin JP, Houzay JP, Muller C, Prinzhofer A (2003) The origin and processes of mud volcanism: new insights from Trinidad. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 216(1):475–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dia AN, Castrec-Rouelle M, Boulègue J, Comeau P (1999) Trinidad mud volcanoes: where do the expelled fluids come from? Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63(7–8):1023–1038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillman J (2015) Colonizing paradise: landscape and empire in the British West Indies. University of Alabama Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Donovan SK (1989) Palaeoecology and significance of barnacles in the mid-Pliocene Balanus Bed of Tobago, West Indies. Geol J 24(4):239–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan SK, Jackson TA (2010) Classic localities explained 6: Tobago. Geol Today 26(6):233–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlich RN, Barreit SF (1990) Cenozoic platetectonic history of the northern Venezuela-Trinidad area. Tectonics 9:161–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlich RN, Farfan PF, Hallock P (1993) Biostratigraphy, depositional environments, and diagenesis of the Tamana Formation, Trinidad: a tectonic marker horizon. Sedimentology 40(4):743–768

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eshelman RE, Grady F (1990) The caves of Crown point, Tobago, West Indies. Nat Speleol Soc Bull 52(1):16–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Flinch JF, Rambaran V, Ali W, Lisa VD, Hernández G, Rodrigues K, Sams R (1999) Chapter 17, Structure of the Gulf of paria pull-apart basin (Eastern Venezuela-Trinidad). In: Mann P (ed) Sedimentary basins of the World, vol 4. Elsevier, pp 477–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford D, Williams P (2007) Karst hydrogeology and geomorphology Chichester. Wiley, 562 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Garciacaro E, Mann P, Escalona A (2011) Regional structure and tectonic history of the obliquely colliding Columbus foreland basin, offshore Trinidad and Venezuela. Mar Pet Geol 28(1):126–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbes C, Southworth J, Keys E (2009) Wetland conservation: change and fragmentation in Trinidad’s protected areas. Geoforum 40(1):91–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin GG, Greenhall AM (1961) A review of the bats of Trinidad and Tobago: descriptions, rabies infection, and ecology 122:191–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris P (1973) Preliminary report on Banwari trace, a preceramic site in Trinidad. In: Proceedings of the fourth international congress for the study of Pre-Columbian cultures of the Lesser Antilles, St. Lucia Archaeological and Historical Society, Castries, pp 115–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassanali K (2013) Towards sustainable tourism: the need to integrate conservation and development using the Buccoo Reef Marine Park, Tobago, West Indies. Nat Resour Forum 37(2):90–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haug GH, Hughen KA, Sigman DM, Peterson LC, Röhl U (2001) Southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone through the holocene. Science 293(5533):1304–1308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins GE (1996) A history of Trinidad Oil, Trinidad Express Newspapers

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins GE, Saunders JB (1967) Report on the 1964 Chatham mud island, Erin Bay, Trinidad, West Indies. Am Assoc Petrol Geol Bull 51(1):55–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins GE, Saunders JB (1974) Mud Volcanoes. Their nature and origin. Verhandlungen Naturforschenden Gesselschaft in Basel 84:101–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Hijmans RJ, Cameron SE, Parra JL, Jones PG, Jarvis A (2005) Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int J Climatol 25(15):1965–1978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughen KA, Eglinton TI, Xu L, Makou M (2004) Abrupt tropical vegetation response to rapid climate changes. Science 304(5679):1955–1959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan L-A (2013) Managing built heritage for tourism in Trinidad and Tobago: challenges and opportunities. J Heritage Tourism 8(1):49–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny JS (1976) A preliminary study of the Buccoo Reef/Bon Accord complex with special reference to development and management. Department of Biological Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenny JS (2008) The biological diversity of Trinidad and Tobago: a naturalist’s notes. Prospect Press/MEP, Port of Spain, 265 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Kugler HG (1959) Geological map and sections of Trinidad. Port of Spain, Petroleum Association of Trinidad, scale 1:100,000. 1 sheet

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapointe BE, Langton R, Bedford BJ, Potts AC, Day O, Hu C (2010) Land-based nutrient enrichment of the Buccoo Reef complex and fringing coral reefs of Tobago, West Indies. Marine Pollut Bull 60(3):334–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laydoo RS (1991) A guide to the coral reefs of Tobago. Institute of Marine Affairs and the Asa Wright Nature Centre, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell JC (1948) Geology of Tobago, British West Indies. Geol Soc Am Bull 59(8):801–854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (2015) Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, http://www.energy.gov.tt/our-business/oil-and-gas-industry/. Accessed 20 July 2015

  • Muhs DR, Simmons KR, Schumann RR, Halley RB (2011) Sea-level history of the past two interglacial periods: new evidence from U-series dating of reef corals from south Florida. Quat Sci Rev 30:570–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muhs DR, Pandolfi JM, Simmons KR, Schumann RR (2012) Sea-level history of past interglacial periods from uranium-series dating of corals, Curaçao, Leeward Antilles Islands. Quat Res 78(2):157–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mycoo M, Gobin J (2013) Coastal management, climate change adaptation and sustainability in small coastal communities: leatherback turtles and beach loss. Sustain Sci 8(3):441–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newson LA (1976) Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: a study in cultural contact. Academic Press, London, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurse LA, McLean RF, Suarez AG (1998) Small island states. In: The regional impacts of climate change: an assessment of vulnerability. In: Watson RT, Zinyowera MC, Moss RH (eds) A Special report of IPCC working group II. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp 331–354

    Google Scholar 

  • ODPM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management) (2014) Preliminary vulnerability assessment of Trinidad and Tobago. Prepared by Ms. Rishma Maharaj attached to the Mitigation Planning and Research Unit of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management, Tacarigua, Trinidad

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagán-Jiménez JR, Rodríguez-Ramos R, Reid BA, van den Bel M, Hofman CL (2015) Early dispersals of maize and other food plants into the Southern Caribbean and Northeastern South America. Quat Sci Rev 123:231–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez OJ, Bilham R, Bendick R, Velandia JR, Hernández N, Moncayo C, Hoyer M, Kozuch M (2001) Velocity field across the Southern Caribbean plate boundary and estimates of Caribbean/South-American plate motion using GPS geodesy 1994–2000. Geophys Res Lett 28(15):2987–2990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson LC, Haug GH, Hughen KA, Röhl U (2000) Rapid changes in the hydrologic cycle of the tropical atlantic during the last glacial. Science 290:1947–1951

    Google Scholar 

  • Pindell JL, Higgs R, Dewey J (1998) Cenozoic palinspastic reconstruction, paleogeographic evolution, and hydrocarbon setting of the northern margin of South America. In: Pindell JL, Drake C (eds) Paleogeographic evolution and non-glacial eustasy, northern South America: SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Special Publication 58, pp 45–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Prentice CS, Weber J, Crosby CJ (2001) Paleoseismic and geomorphic evidence for quaternary fault slip on the central range fault, South American-Caribbean Plate Boundary, Trinidad. EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 82:F928

    Google Scholar 

  • Prentice CS, Weber JC, Crosby CJ, Ragona D (2010) Prehistoric earthquakes on the Caribbean-South American plate boundary, Central Range fault, Trinidad. Geology 38(8):675–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedell M, Kurtis B, Kurtis P, Chicago Production C, Wttw and Public Media, V. 1997, Is Trinidad drowning?: [Chicago, Ill.], Public Media Video

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramcharan EK (2004) Mid-to-late Holocene sea level influence on coastal wetland development in Trinidad. Quat Int 120(1):145–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson WD (1963) Observations on the vegetation and ecology of the Aripo Savannas, Trinidad. J Ecol 51(2):295–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritter J, Weber J (2007) Geomorphology and quaternary geology of the Northern Range, Trinidad and Paria Peninsula, Venezuela: recording quaternary subsidence and uplift associated with a pull-apart basin. In: Proceedings, geological society of Trinidad and Tobago, fourth geological conference

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw T (1993) The history of cave studies in Trinidad, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and some other Caribbean islands. Acta Carsologica 22:15–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel PE, Jones JG, Pearsall DM, Dunning NP, Farrell P, Duncan NA, Curtis JH, Singh SK (2015) Paleoenvironmental evidence for first human colonization of the eastern Caribbean. Quat Sci Rev 129:275–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snoke AW, Rowe DW, Yule JD, Wadge G (2001) Petrologic and structural history of Tobago, West Indies: a fragment of the accreted Mesozoic oceanic arc of the southern Caribbean. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 354:1–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Soto DM, Mann P, Escalona A, Wood LJ (2007) Late Holocene strike-slip offset of a subsurface channel interpreted from three-dimensional seismic data, eastern offshore Trinidad. Geology 35(9):859–862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soto D, Mann P, Escalona A (2011) Miocene-to-recent structure and basinal architecture along the central range strike-slip fault zone, eastern offshore Trinidad. Mar Pet Geol 28(1):212–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steadman D, Stokes A (2002) Changing exploitation of terrestrial vertebrates during the past 3000 years on Tobago, West Indies. Hum Ecol 30(3):339–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • TDC (Tourism Development Company Limited) (2015) Implementation of the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, http://www.tdc.co.tt/index.htm. Accessed July 20 2015

  • Trechmann CT (1934) Tertiary and quaternary beds of Tobago, West Indies. Geol Magazine 71(11):481–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) (2015) World Heritage Centre, http://whc.unesco.org. Accessed 10 Aug 2015

  • Van Andel TH (1967) The Orinoco Delta. J Sediment Petrol 37:297–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Andel TH, Sachs PL (1964) Sedimentation in the Gulf of Paria during the Holocene transgression: a subsurface acoustic refraction study. J Mar Res 22:30–50

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Hammen T, Hooghiemstra H (2000) Neogene and quaternary history of vegetation, climate, and plant diversity in Amazonia. Quatern Sci Rev 19(8):725–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wadge G, Hudson D (1986) Neotectonics of southern Tobago. In: Rodrigues K (ed) Transactions of the 1st geologic conference of the geologic society of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 10–12 July 1985, pp 7–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall G, Ali IM (1977) The impact of tourism in Trinidad and Tobago. Ann Tourism Res 5:43–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warne A, Guevara E, Aslan A (2002) Late quaternary evolution of the Orinoco delta, Venezuela. J Coastal Res 18:225–253

    Google Scholar 

  • WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) (2015) http://www.wasa.gov.tt. Accessed 10 Aug 2015

  • Weber JC (2005) Neotectonics in the Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies segment of the Caribbean-South American plate boundary. Occas Pap Geolog Inst Hungary 204:21–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber JC, Dixon TH, DeMets C, Ambeh WB, Jansma P, Mattioli G, Saleh J, Sella G, Bilham R, Pérez O (2001a) GPS estimate of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidad and Venezuela. Geology 29(1):75–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber JC, Ferrill DA, Roden-Tice MK (2001b) Calcite and quartz microstructural geothermometry of low-grade metasedimentary rocks, Northern Range, Trinidad. J Struct Geol 23(1):93–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber JC, Saleh J, Balkaransingh S, Dixon T, Ambeh W, Leong T, Rodriguez A, Miller K (2011) Triangulation-to-GPS and GPS-to-GPS geodesy in Trinidad, West Indies: Neotectonics, seismic risk, and geologic implications. Marine Pet Geol 28(1):200–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber JC, Geirsson H, Latchman JL, Shaw K, La Femina P, Wdowinski S, Higgins M, Churches C, Norabuena E (2015a) Tectonic inversion in the Caribbean‐South American plate boundary: GPS geodesy, seismology, and tectonics of the M w 6.7 22 April 1997 Tobago earthquake: Tectonics, 1181–1194

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber J, Arkle JC, Noriega N (2015b) Northern range, Trinidad: the guppy geomorphology connection. In: Abs., Caribbean geological conference, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 17–21 May 2015

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber JC, William N, Arkle JC (2015c) A tale of two beaches: Tompire Bay, NE Trinidad. In: Coastal care, beach of the month, www.coastalcare.org

  • Willing E-M, Bentzen P, Van Oosterhout C, Hoffmann M, Cable J, Breden F, Weigel D, Dreyer C (2010) Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms reveal population history and adaptive divergence in wild guppies. Mol Ecol 19(5):968–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson SM (2007) The archaeology of the Caribbean. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • WRA (Trinidad and Tobago Water Resources Agency) (2001) Integrating the management of watersheds and coastal areas in Trinidad and Tobago. Prepared by the Water Resource Agency for the Ministry of the Environment, Complex Independent Square, Port of Spain

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

JCA and LAO thank the University of Cincinnati (UC) for funding fieldwork in Trinidad and Tobago. JCA thanks UC for funding her doctoral work on the geomorphology of Trinidad and Tobago. JCW thanks all of the generous, warm, friendly, and helpful Trinidadians and Tobagonians that he has interacted with while working and learning in the field.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Jeanette C. Arkle & Lewis A. Owen

  2. Department of Geology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA

    John C. Weber

Authors
  1. Jeanette C. Arkle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lewis A. Owen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John C. Weber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeanette C. Arkle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. General Education, Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Casey D. Allen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Arkle, J.C., Owen, L.A., Weber, J.C. (2017). Trinidad and Tobago. In: Allen, C. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of the Lesser Antilles. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55787-8_17

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation