Two parallel island chains stretch across the sapphire-tinted waters of the Caribbean Sea, forming the Leeward Islands. Volcanic upwellings on the ocean floor created the high, inner island chain as lava bubbled to the waterÂ’s surface and cooled. This inner arc consists of younger islands with high, rugged profiles and mountain slopes covered in dense, moist forest. The limestone islands in the outer arc are older, and over many years the steady currents of wind and ocean waves have sculpted flat, low-lying landscapes covered with less moist forest. Vegetation here is lush and rich, with a wide variety of hardwoods, palms, and epiphytes. While many of the low-lying mangroves and dry forests have been cleared on these islands, the moist forests that grow at high altitudes where humans cannot easily go remain relatively intact.
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