ST. JOHN


 that the lands, mountains, and troughs are arranged in arcs, most
 of which are convex toward the north."
 Specifically, the island of St. John, like several of the neighbor-
 ing islands, apparently is underlain by mildly deformed Cretaceous
 volcanics and limestones ( Donnelly, 1959). These were later in-
 truded and contact metamorphosed during the late Cretaceous or
 early Tertiary times. St. Johns, along with the island of St. Thomas,
 forms a portion of a homocline which appears to dip to the north
 15 to 90 degrees with an average of close to 50 degrees. To compli-
 cate the picture, the island is cut by northwest-trending dextral and
 northeast-trending sinistral strike-slip faults as well as a series of
 north-south normal faults.
 In essence, the Virgin Islands, and particularly the island of
 St. John, developed as the result of large volcanic activities on the
 northern side of a geanticlinal rise. There appears to have been
 sudden change from underwater volcanics to exposed volcanic
 conditions.
 The work of Donnelly (1959) confirms the report of Meyerhoff
 (1926) to the effect that there were three erosion levels present on
 the island of St. John: one at about 900 feet above sea level; one
 at 250 feet above sea level; and one approximately 180 feet
 below sea level. Based on these features, the present island can
 probably be described as a submerged land mass.
 The orientation of structures in the Virgin Islands, and St.
 John in particular, indicates that the line of discontinuity had an
 east and west trend. The total structure of exposed rocks in these
 islands requires a compression in the north-south direction, thus
 the resulting east-west axis of the islands: an axis so important
 in the overall environmental picture.
 The presence or absence of soils was important to the Arawak
 type culture transplanted to the island of St. John from the south;
 therefore, consideration will be given to this phase of geology. A
 study of soil conditions-based on Meyerhoff and Donnelly-at the
 900 foot level on St. John reveals a much more mature topography
 than that observed at lower elevations. A greater degree of weather-
 ing is apparent in the upper zones of the island as shown on soils
 eroded from rocks at the summits. At Bordeaux Peak, for example,
rocks have been altered or weathered to about 5 feet in depth or
at least 5 feet more than similar rocks on lower elevations. Actually,