Bahamian Landscapes: An Introduction to the Geography of the Bahamas (review)

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXVI, No. 1, May 1996, pp. 87-89 REVIEW Bahamian Landscapes: An Introduction to the Geography of the Bahamas. Neil E. Sealey, Media Publishing, Nassau, 1994. 129 p., maps, photos, figs., tables, bibliography, and index. $11.95 paper (ISBN 0-9643786-0-4). George A. Brook The first edition oíBahamian Landscapes was published in 1985 and went out of print in 1993. When Longman Caribbean indicated that they did not want to continue with the title, Media Enterprises Ltd., in association with the author, published the second edition locally. One reason for this move was that the Bahamas Ministry of Education had made the study of Bahamian geography compulsory for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The author updated the first edition and added a chapter on climate, so that the book now contains six chapters that cover portions ofthe GSCE and college preparatory syllabuses in geography. Bahamian Landscapes is not, however, a geography of the Bahamas, for there is little comment on human activities. Nor is it a physical geography of the Bahamas, as there is no section on plants and animals. The first edition was an introduction to the geology of the Bahamas; the second edition is an introduction to the geology of the islands with a chapter on climate appended. This said, the book is inexpensive, well written, well illustrated with 143 figures (including 71 half-tone photographs) and 29 tables, and provides the reader with a good account of the geological history of the Bahamas, the origins of the various landforms, and the physical resources. It is the kind of book any geographer should read before going to the Bahamas because it explains why the islands look the way they do. The book has nine chapters: 1-4 dealing with the ancient and recent geological history of the islands, including their origin; 5-7 with the ridgeland, rockland, wetland, and coastal landscapes; 8 with natural resources; and 9 with climate. Sealey, a Senior Lecturer at the College of The Bahamas, sets the scene in a two-page " Introduction" before chapter 1 . Here we find out that there are 5,000 square miles ofland in the Bahamas, all below 200 ft. elevation, and 50,000 square miles of shallow-water banks adjacent to ocean 20,000 feet deep. In chapter 1, "The Origin and Structure of the Bahamas Platform," we learn that the platform on which the islands sit originated as North America and Africa Dr. Brook is Professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the University ofGeorgia, Athens, GA 30602-2502. Southeastern Geographer separated about 200 million years ago. Chapter 2, "The Banks—A Story of Sedimentation," is one ofthe most interesting in the book. Here Sealey describes the Bahamas as " a vast carbonate factory, a bucket in which the level is always overflowing into the canyons and oceans around it" (p. 28). The bucket, he says, has coral reef walls inside of which lie extensive plains of oolitic sands. He cautions, however, that "probably the greatest mistake that can be made is to believe that the Bahamian islands are coral islands" (p. 18), pointing out that "if any single thing can be called the builder of the Bahamas, it must truly be the calcareous green algae" (p. 21), which take up calcium carbonate from ocean water far faster than do corals. In this chapter mention also is made ofthe exciting discovery in 1986 of giant living stromatolites in the waters of Exuma Cays. In chapter 3, "The Canyons," we learn that the submarine canyons of the Bahamas, which are up to three miles deep, are some of the deepest in the world and dwarfthe Grand Canyon ofArizona (one mile deep). Chapter 4, "The Islands and Their Recent Geological History," also is essential reading for an understanding of the landscapes and seascapes of the Bahamas. It presents evidence for higher and lower sea levels (including raised beaches and sea caves and submerged peats and cave stalagmites), and stresses that the islands themselves exist because, during the last interglacial, sea level was 20 ft. higher than now and because on numerous other occasions sea level was slightly lower than at...