Recent acquisition of multibeam bathymetric data in western Caribbean allowed illuminating for the first time the submarine morphology of the Archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina (ASAPSC), and surrounding areas. Our results show that the nine islands of the archipelago (San Andres, Providencia, Albuquerque, Este-Sureste, Roncador, Quitasueño, Serrana, Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo) correspond to the emerged portions of a belt of volcanic edifices extending along the ASAPSC seafloor. Overall, the submarine slopes are characterized by having steep flanks that extend to depths greater than −2000 m and are frequently cut by linear gullies and canyons. The submarine volcanic buildings are aligned in specific directions, parallel to the trends of the main fault systems in the area, indicating that the genesis and evolution of the archipelago have been strongly influenced by the interplay between volcanism and tectonics. Moreover, the presence of several pull-apart basins (Providencia, Albuquerque, Nutibara, Cunas and Guambiano depressions) related to S-shaped releasing bends in the Albuquerque-Providencia, Pedro and Serrana fault systems evidences that an intraplate transtensional tectonics is currently operating in this sector of the Caribbean plate. We propose that the ASAPSC belongs to the Northwestern Caribbean Volcanic Province (NCVP), which corresponds to a province made of an oceanic crust highly affected by volcanism sandwiched between a block composed of continental crust (Upper Nicaraguan Rise) and a block underlain by a CLIP-type to normal oceanic crust (Colombia Basin). Finally, the identification of massive debris avalanche deposits and large-scale bedforms shows that mass wasting processes have been common in the most recent history of the ASAPSC. This implies that collapses of the seamount flanks and the subsequent generation of tsunamis should be considered as a new threat to the coastal zones of the western Caribbean Sea.

最近在西加勒比海获得的多波束测深数据，首次阐明了圣安德列斯群岛，普罗维登西亚群岛和圣卡塔琳娜州（ASAPSC）以及周边地区的海底形态。我们的结果表明，该群岛的九个岛屿（圣安德列斯，普罗维登西亚，阿尔伯克基，埃斯特-苏雷斯特，龙卡多，基塔苏埃诺，塞拉纳，塞拉尼利亚和巴约·努埃沃）对应于沿ASAPSC海底延伸的火山岩带的出现部分。总体而言，海底斜坡的特征是具有陡峭的侧翼，这些侧翼延伸到大于-2000 m的深度，并且经常被线性的沟壑和峡谷所切割。海底火山建筑物沿特定方向排列，与该地区主要断层系统的趋势平行，表明该群岛的成因和演化受到火山作用与构造学之间相互作用的强烈影响。此外，在阿尔伯克基-普罗维登西亚，佩德罗和塞拉纳断层系统中，与S形释放弯道有关的几个拉脱盆地（普罗维登西亚，阿尔伯克基，努蒂巴拉，库纳斯和瓜比亚诺凹陷）的存在表明，板内超张构造目前正在运行。加勒比板块的这一​​部分。我们建议ASAPSC属于西北加勒比海火山省（NCVP），该省对应于受火山作用严重影响的洋壳构成的一个省，该省被夹在大陆壳（尼加拉瓜河上升带）组成的区块与CLIP之下的区块之间型为正常的洋壳（哥伦比亚盆地）。最后，对大量碎片雪崩沉积物和大型岩床的识别表明，在ASAPSC的最新历史中，大量浪费过程是很普遍的。这意味着海山侧翼的崩溃和随后发生的海啸应被视为对西加勒比海沿海地区的新威胁。