Editing Nevis (section)

== Geography ==
[[File:Nevis Satellite.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Nevis and neighbouring Leeward Islands during the 2002 volcanic eruption in [[Montserrat]] (centre). Top to bottom on left are: [[St. Eustatius]], [[Saint Kitts]], Nevis. On the right are: [[Barbuda]], [[Antigua]], [[Guadeloupe]].]]
The formation of the island began in [[Pliocene|mid-Pliocene]] times, approximately 3.45 million years ago. Nine distinct eruptive centres from different geological ages, ranging from mid-Pliocene to [[Pleistocene]], have contributed to the formation. No single model of the island's [[Geochronology|geological evolution]] can, therefore, be ascertained.<ref>United Nations (2000). "Saint Kitts and Nevis: Executive Summary". ''Country Reports''. Committee on Science and Technology, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, [http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/lac/national/2000/saint_kitts_and_nevis-summary-eng.pdf pdf file] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804151915/http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/lac/national/2000/saint_kitts_and_nevis-summary-eng.pdf |date=4 August 2009 }}. Retrieved 7 December 2006.</ref>

[[Nevis Peak]] ({{convert|985|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}} high) is the dormant remnant of one of these ancient [[stratovolcano]]es. The last activity took place about 100,000 years ago, but active [[fumaroles]] and hot springs are still found on the island, the most recent formed in 1953.<ref>{{cite gvp|name=Nevis Peak|vn=360040|access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref> The composite cone of Nevis volcano has two overlapping summit craters that are partially filled by a lava dome, created in recent, pre-Columbian time. [[Pyroclastic flows]] and mudflows were deposited on the lower slopes of the cone simultaneously.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Volcanism Program {{!}} Nevis Peak |url=https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=360040 |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=Smithsonian Institution {{!}} Global Volcanism Program |language=en |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618233609/https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=360040 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Nevis Peak]] is located on the outer crater rim. Four other lava domes were constructed on the flanks of the volcano, one on the northeast flank (Madden's Mount), one on the eastern flank (Butlers Mountain), one on the northwest coast (Mount Lily) and one on the south coast (Saddle Hill, with a height of {{convert|375|m|ft|disp=or}}). The southernmost point on the island is [[Dogwood Point]] which is also the southernmost point of the [[Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

During the [[Quaternary glaciation|last ice age]], when the sea level was {{convert|60|m|ft}} lower, the three islands of Saint Kitts, Nevis and [[Sint Eustatius]] (also known as Statia) were connected as one island. [[Saba (island)|Saba]], however, is separated from these three by a deeper channel.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

There are visible wave-breaking reefs along the northern and eastern shorelines. To the south and west, the reefs are located in deeper water.<ref name="Geospatial Conservation Atlas 2024 j562">{{cite web | title=Coral Reefs (2017) | website=The Nature Conservancy Geospatial Conservation Atlas | date=January 8, 2024 | url=https://geospatial.tnc.org/datasets/TNC::coral-reefs-2017/explore?location=17.166175%2C-62.558380%2C12.91 | access-date=March 5, 2024}}</ref><ref name="The UWI Seismic Research Centre 2000 g219">{{cite web | title=Nevis | website=The UWI Seismic Research Centre | date=October 30, 2000 | url=https://uwiseismic.com/island-profiles/nevis/ | access-date=March 5, 2024 | archive-date=12 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112065226/https://uwiseismic.com/island-profiles/nevis/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The most developed beach on Nevis is the {{cvt|4.8|km|mi|adj=mid}}<ref name="Pinney_length">{{Google maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pinneys+beach/@17.1631873,-62.6103518,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x8c123d4f235d47b3:0xca8a5737c4396ee1!8m2!3d17.1581896!4d-62.6296306!16s%2Fm%2F03g_dsr?entry=ttu |title=Pinney's Beach, Nevis map |access-date=5 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="Lonely Planet y152">{{cite web | title=Nevis, St Kitts & Nevis | website=Lonely Planet | url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/st-kitts-nevis/northern-nevis/attractions/pinney-s-beach/a/poi-sig/1396711/1331212 | access-date=March 5, 2024 | archive-date=26 February 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226235404/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/st-kitts-nevis/northern-nevis/attractions/pinney-s-beach/a/poi-sig/1396711/1331212 | url-status=live }}</ref> or {{cvt|6.5|km|mi|adj=mid|long}}<ref name="U.S. News Travel 1970 z745">{{cite web | title=Pinney's Beach (Nevis) Reviews | website=U.S. News Travel | date=January 1, 1970 | url=https://travel.usnews.com/St_Kitts-Nevis/Things_To_Do/Pinney_s_Beach_22304/ | access-date=March 5, 2024 | archive-date=18 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218001332/https://travel.usnews.com/St_Kitts-Nevis/Things_To_Do/Pinney_s_Beach_22304/ | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Pinney's Beach]],<ref name="Lindsay_2009">{{cite report |author=Island Resources Foundation |date=June 2009 |title=Terrestrial Biodiversity Inventory and Status Assessment for the Proposed Nevis Peak Protected Area |url=http://www.irf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NevisPeakProtectedAreaTerrestrialBiodiversity_2009.pdf |publisher=Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis |access-date=2024-03-05 |quote=Pinney‘s Beach is now heavily trafficked and the most developed on Nevis. |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221084326/http://www.irf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NevisPeakProtectedAreaTerrestrialBiodiversity_2009.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> on the western or Caribbean coast.<ref name="U.S. News Travel 1970 z745" /> There is sheltered swimming at Pinney, Nisbet, Lovers, and Oualie beaches.<ref name="The Telegraph 2020 o154">{{cite web | title=5 of the best beaches on Nevis, from secluded sands to party spots | website=The Telegraph | date=July 3, 2020 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/caribbean/saint-kitts-and-nevis/articles/nevis-beaches/ | access-date=March 5, 2024 | archive-date=27 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127034236/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/caribbean/saint-kitts-and-nevis/articles/nevis-beaches/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The eastern coast of the island faces into the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="BBC News 2012 e190">{{cite web | title=St Kitts and Nevis country profile | website=BBC News | date=October 22, 2012 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20032548 | access-date=March 5, 2024 | archive-date=17 March 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317165000/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20032548 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Geospatial Conservation Atlas 2024 j562" />

The colour of the [[sand]] on the beaches of Nevis is variable: on a lot of the bigger beaches the sand is a yellow-grey in colour, but some beaches on the southern coast have darker, reddish, or even black sand. Under a microscope it becomes clear that Nevis sand is a mixture of tiny fragments of coral, many [[foraminifera]], and small crystals of the various mineral constituents of the [[volcanic rock]] of which the island is made.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

===Geology===
Seven volcanic centers make up Nevis. These include Round Hill (3.43 [[Myr|Ma]]), Cades Bay (3.22 Ma), Hurricane Hill (2.7 Ma), Saddle Hill (1.8 Ma), Butlers Mountain (1.1 Ma), Red Cliff and Nevis Peak (0.98 Ma). These are mainly [[andesite]] and [[dacite]] [[lava dome]]s, with associated block and [[ash flow]]s, plus [[lahar]]s. Nevis Peak has the highest elevation, at 984 m. Cades Bay and Farm Estate Soufriere are noted areas of [[hydrothermal]] activity.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nevis Geology|url=http://caribbeanvolcanoes.com/nevis-geology/|website=Caribbean Volcanoes|access-date=4 October 2017|archive-date=5 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005000349/http://caribbeanvolcanoes.com/nevis-geology/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nevis Geological Profile|url=http://uwiseismic.com/ScientificPapers.aspx|website=The University of West Indies|access-date=4 October 2017|archive-date=4 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004191050/http://uwiseismic.com/ScientificPapers.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Water has been piped since 1911 from a [[spring (hydrology)|spring]] called the "Source", located {{convert|1800|ft|m}} up the mountain, to storage tanks at Rawlins Village, and since 1912, to Butler's Village. Additional drinking water comes from Nelson's Spring near Cotton Ground and Bath Spring. [[Groundwater]] has been extracted since the 1990s, and mixed with the Source water.<ref name="Vincent">{{cite book|last1=Hubbard|first1=Vincent|title=Swords, Ships & Sugar|date=2002|publisher=Premiere Editions International, Inc.|location=Corvallis|isbn=9781891519055|page=196}}</ref>

===Colonial deforestation===
[[File:Nevis-lookingtosea.jpg|thumb|upright=1|On the western coastal plain, looking south-southwest towards Charlestown]]
During the 17th and 18th centuries, massive [[deforestation]] was undertaken by the planters as the land was initially cleared for sugar cultivation. This intense land exploitation by the sugar and cotton industry lasted almost 300 years, and greatly changed the island's [[ecosystem]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frucht |first1=Richard |title=Community and Context in a Colonial Society: Social and Economic Change in Nevis, British West Indies |date=February 1966 }}</ref>

In some places along the windswept southeast or "Windward" coast of the island, the landscape is radically altered compared with how it used to be in pre-colonial times.<ref name="Wilson" /> Due to extreme land erosion, the topsoil was swept away, and in some places at the coast, sheer cliffs as high as {{convert|25|m|ft|abbr=off}} have developed.<ref>Wilson, Samuel (1990). "The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of Nevis, West Indies". ''Journal of Field Archaeology'', Vol. 16, No. 4 (Winter 1989), p. 428: "The breakup of the fringing reef has itself contributed to extensive and accelerating coastal erosion on the windward coast of the island, where sea cliffs of unconsolidated volcanic gravels as high as 25 m have developed."</ref>

Thick forest once covered the eastern coastal plain, where the Amerindians built their first settlements during the Aceramic period, complementing the ecosystem surrounding the [[coral reef]] just offshore. It was the easy access to fresh water on the island and the rich food source represented by the ocean life sheltered by the reef that made it feasible for the Amerindians to settle this area around 600 BC.<ref name="Wilson" /> With the loss of the natural vegetation, the balance in runoff nutrients to the reef was disturbed, eventually causing as much as 80 per cent of the large eastern fringing reef to become inactive. As the reef broke apart, it, in turn, provided less protection for the coastline.<ref name="Wilson" />

During times of maximum cultivation, sugar cane fields stretched from the coastline of Nevis up to an altitude at which the mountain slopes were too steep and rocky to farm. Nonetheless, once the sugar industry was finally abandoned, vegetation on the leeward side of the island regrew reasonably well, as scrub and secondary forest.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

===Water resources===
[[File:Nevis Hot Spring.jpg|thumb|upright=1|A hot volcanic spring water bathing pool at Bath Spring]]
Nevis has several natural freshwater springs, including [[Horatio Nelson|Nelson's]] Spring. The island also has numerous non-potable volcanic [[hot spring]]s, including most notably the Bath Spring near Bath village, just south of the capital Charlestown.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wellness |url=https://nevisisland.com/wellness/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Nevis Tourism Authority |language=en}}</ref>

After heavy rains, powerful rivers of rainwater pour down the numerous [[ravine]]s, known as ghauts.<ref name="UNEP 2020 r296">{{cite web | title=Staunching the flow: St. Kitts and Nevis' fight to keep its soil | website=UNEP | date=August 24, 2020 | url=https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/staunching-flow-st-kitts-and-nevis-fight-keep-its-soil | access-date=March 22, 2024 | archive-date=22 March 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322144301/https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/staunching-flow-st-kitts-and-nevis-fight-keep-its-soil | url-status=live }}</ref> When the water reaches the coastline, the corresponding coastal ponds, both freshwater and brackish, fill to capacity and beyond, spilling over into the sea.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

With modern development, the existing freshwater springs are no longer enough to supply water to the whole island. The water supply now comes mostly from Government wells. The major source of potable water for the island is groundwater, obtained from 14 active wells. Water is pumped from the wells, stored and allowed to flow by gravity to the various locations.<ref name="ECLAC">The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). [http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/9/13229/lcarg749-12-Chapter09.pdf "Chapter 9: St. Kitts and Nevis"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926162940/http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/9/13229/lcarg749-12-Chapter09.pdf |date=26 September 2007 }}. In Programme of Action for the sustainable development of small island developing States (SIDS POA). United Nations, 2003-09-29. Retrieved 28 August 2007.</ref>

===Climate===
{{See also|Saint Kitts and Nevis#Climate}}
The climate is tropical with little variation, tempered all year round (but particularly from December through February) by the steady north-easterly winds, called the [[trade winds]]. There is a slightly hotter and somewhat rainier season from May to November.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Atlas |first=Weather |title=Yearly & Monthly weather - Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/saint-kitts-and-nevis/nevis-climate?utm |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Weather Atlas |language=en-us}}</ref>

Nevis lies within the track area of tropical storms and occasional hurricanes. These storms can develop between June 1 and November 30. This time of year has the heaviest rainfalls.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Nevis also experiences many fires, including the devastating Nevisian Fire of 1876.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}