The West Indies

The West Indies' enchanting islands have some of the World's most interesting volcanoes, two of which have played a vital part in the development of volcanology as a science. The 1902 eruptions of Mt. Pelée, Martinique, and Soufrière, St. Vincent, attracted substantial scientific interest and led to the recognition of two volcanic processes. The first was the formation of deadly pyroclastic flows, also known as nuées ardentes, and second was the growth of lava domes or spines in the crater at the final stages of eruption. The most notable work was done by Frank A. Perret, a physicist who came to Martinique after the 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelée to study its deposits and subsequent activity. Perret devoted most of his life to the study of volcanoes and eventually became the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Montagne Pelée is, with good reason, the most infamous of the West Indies volcanoes because of its catastrophic 1902 eruption. It is, however, only one of the potentially lethal volcanoes along the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, which stretches from the Dutch island of Saba on the north down to the spice island of Grenada on the south. The volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles arc that have been active in historic times are: Saba, at the northern end of the arc, The Quill in St. Eustatius, Liamuiga in St. Kitts, Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, Soufrière in Guadeloupe, Microtin and Morne Patates in Dominica, Pelée in Martinique, Qualibou in St. Lucia, Soufrière in St. Vincent, and Kick-'em-Jenny, a submarine volcano just north of Grenada.