Boulders in the Jardines de la Reina archipelago:

The Caribbean region is a tsunami and hurricane - prone area. Of course we do not see as many tsunamis as hurricanes, but events that trigger the former are actually very common; just think about the many quakes that has recently kept the inhabitants of Santiago de Cubasleepless for several days and nights. Volcanism and submarine slides present in the area, may also cause tsunamis.

Hurricanes are actually common in the Caribbean area; however most of them originate in the Atlantic, close to the coast of Africa. On average, 10-12 hurricanes hit the area every year. Devastation and the consequent economic and environmental damage, along with the loss of human lives is a pending risk for the island states of the Lesser and Greater Antilles.

The perception of risks from tsunamis and hurricanes have increased with recent events, particularly tsunamis in Asia and hurricanes the have hit cities way north the tropical areas. Governments, scientists and communities have coordinated efforts to assess and manage hazards and also to rehabilitate places impacted by the said events.

Among the many tools currently used to tackle this issue, the study of past tsunamis and hurricanes has turned out an effective one to predict and determine cycles of occurrence of such meteors. A very tangible evidence of such events is the deposit of boulders, common in the Caribbean islands and also present in the cays of the Jardines de la Reina National Park, 50 miles off the southern coast of Cuba.

Determining whether boulders have been transported by high-energy waves resulting from tsunamis or hurricanes is still controversial. Felipe Matos, a researcher from the Coastal Ecosystems Research Center (CIEC), who has dedicated several years to the study paleo-hurricanes, states that several parameters like the position of the boulders in respect to the coast, weight and wave height are used to deal with the transport issue.

Although his research has focussed on coring sediments from the bottom of coastal lagoons to track past hurricanes so far, the boulder deposits of Jardines de la Reina are his next target. The deposits of the National Park are located on the southern coast of the cays and have dimensions of up to 6 m3. He is currently working on a project to look into some other parameters like porosity to determine the origin of the boulders. The situation offers an excellent opportunity to do research in the area with emphasis on their location, their main features, period of deposition and possible origin.

With a smile on his face, like admitting some kind of “bias” resulting from his research area (paleo-hurricanes), he hypothesizes that the said deposits are more likely to have been transported by high-energy waves from hurricanes.

However, Felipe made clear that the most important thing to manage hazards in the area is not whether the boulders were deposited by tsunami or hurricane waves. On either case, the damage may be catastrophic and everyone must be aware of it. Government agencies, scientists and the locals must work out the most efficient set of measures to mitigate their effect and to rehabilitate the impacted areas.