Times of the Islands Summer 2016

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green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs head office: church folly, grand turk, tel 649 946 2801 • fax 649 946 1895 • astwood street, south caicos, tel 649 946 3306 • fax 946 3710 • national environmental centre, lower bight road, providenciales parks division, tel 649 941 5122 • fax 649 946 4793 fisheries division, tel 649 946 4017 • fax 649 946 4793 email environment@gov.tc or dema.tci@gmail.com • web www.environment.tc Conch Bar Cave in Middle Caicos includes many large stalactite-stalagmite columns such as the one in this passage. Caving In for Science TCI’s cave system helps researchers understand local geology. By Michael J. Lace, John E. Mylroie, Nancy A. Albury, and Joan R. Mylroie, Coastal Cave Survey Photos By John E. Mylroie and Michael J. Lace ~ Figures By Coastal Cave Survey The Turks & Caicos Islands are well known for beautiful beaches and sparkling turquoise seas. Did you know that the Islands also have a unique and interesting underworld? It is made up of caves that contain beauty, history, and a fascinating geologic record. 20 www.timespub.tc
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs The origins of the Turks & Caicos Islands The Turks & Caicos Islands exist today because the rocks as ice. The drop in sea level has been as much as 125 m that form the Islands have been made by living organisms, (410 ft) during a glaciation; during an interglacial slightly both plant and animal, that precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ), the compound that becomes limestone. (20 ft) above today’s level as more ice had melted. warmer than today, sea level has been as much as 6 m The chemistry that allows the precipitation of calcium When a glaciation is occurring, and sea level is down carbonate also allows it to be dissolved later by moving by 100 meters or more, all the shallow banks of the TCI water. As a result, the bedrock surface becomes jagged are exposed as dry land, with steep cliffs down to the sea. and irregular, forming pits that carry water downward to All the current islands on the Caicos Bank: West Caicos, create caves within the freshwater lenses that underlie Providenciales, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, East Caicos, the Islands. Each island has its own separate lens. South Caicos, the Ambergris Cays, and all the smaller The deposition of the limestone that is the TCI’s islands and cays, become one large island. Grand Turk, foundation and the subsequent dissolution of those rocks Salt Cay, Sand Cay and associated islands and cays are on has been controlled over the last several million years a separate bank and also become a single large island. by a series of natural climatic events known (in layman’s Glaciations last about 100,000 years, the interglacials terms), as the Ice Ages (called glaciations by geologists). The time between glaciations, as currently exists in the world today, are called interglacials. During a glaciation, snowfall in the high latitudes of Europe and North America fails to melt completely each summer, and that snow accumulates into thick piles of ice, which expand and move southward as ice sheets. The natural trigger for this process is a subtle change in the This graph shows the variance in sea level over the last 1/2 million years. earth’s orbit about the sun that leads to slightly cooler temperatures that promote snow last only about 10,000 years, but during that short time survival, but also changing weather patterns that increase window (in the geologic sense), the geology of the TCI the amount of snow at high latitudes. These orbital becomes established. changes, called the Milankovitch cycle, are the result of When sea level rises as ice sheets melt back, the tops slight cyclical changes in how circular the earth’s orbit of the banks become flooded with sea water. The lagoons is, how much axial tilt exists, and how the precession of form, and the corals, conchs, starfish, algae and other the earth’s axis changes the equinoxes. The end result organisms begin to flourish and create calcium carbonate, primarily as reef structures and skeletons. Over time of ice accumulation as glaciers is a fall in sea level as the evaporated ocean water is stored on the continents these skeletal features degrade as the organisms die, and Times of the Islands Summer 2016 21
Page 1 and 2: TIMES OF THE SAMPLING THE SOUL OF T
Page 3 and 4: Happily ever after starts here. Cel
Page 5 and 6: The cool side of classic. 7 2 W E S
Page 7 and 8: Turks And Caicos TurksAndCaicosProp
Page 9 and 10: VOTED WORLD’S BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE
Page 12 and 13: WHERE EXCLUSIVE IS ALWAYS INCLUSIVE
Page 14 and 15: RASHAWDESIGNS.com TIMES MANAGING ED
Page 16 and 17: At press time (late May), Mario is
Page 18 and 19: Mario tackled the mighty Indian Oce
Page 22 and 23: green pages newsletter of the depar
Page 32 and 33: 32 www.timespub.tc
Page 34 and 35: 34 www.timespub.tc
Page 36 and 37: I first came to Grand Turk 22 years
Page 38 and 39: CLAIRE PARRISH
Page 40 and 41: In the TCI, students attend primary
Page 42 and 43: CLAIRE PARRISH Grade 6 students at
Page 44 and 45: KRYS & GRACE MANN From top: Each st
Page 46 and 47: The longest established legal pract
Page 49 and 50: usiness Opposite page and above: Th
Page 51 and 52: Green Energy (UGE) and local partne
Page 53 and 54: astrolabe newsletter of the Turks &
Page 65 and 66: sporting life DIGITAL HANDPRINT Opp
Page 67 and 68: Local swim schools, TCI government
Page 69 and 70: JILL SWANN This group of Oseta Joll
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shape up Footprints in the sand By
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faces and places Above from left: K
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Our journey starts at Providenciale
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INNOVATION | CONSERVATION | ADVENTU
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about the Islands Map provided cour
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about the Islands approval in writi
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and loose pants for men, with straw
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H H H H H H H H H H H H H where to
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Greenbean — Harbour Town at Turtl
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classified ads SeaSwim change class
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Times of the Islands Summer 2016

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