ABSTRACT
The Caribbean region, also known as the West Indies, consists of hundreds of islands scattered roughly between latitudes 10°N and 28°N and longitudes 59°W and 86°W. The islands can be grouped into three main geological categories: the Bahamas (including the Turks and Caicos Islands), the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles. Limestones range in age from Holocene to Jurassic (0-200 million years). More than half the total land area of the region consists of karst, i.e. 130000 km2, of which 90% is located on the Greater Antilles (Troester et al., 1987).
