The climate of Cuba is tropical. Annual rainfall varies from less than 800 to over 2200 millimeters for different parts of the island. The tradewinds tend to bring precipitation to the eastern end of the island. However, the presence of various highlands causes rainshadows where conditions are much drier. November to April is the wet season. The hurricane tracks results in most hurricanes affecting the western end of the island (Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 1970).
Physiography and Geology of Cuba
Outside of four distinctly mountainous areas, the topography is subdued with elevations less than 100 meters (Faribridge, 1975b). The major mountain range is the Sierra Maestra in the southeastern part of Cuba. Pico Turquino, at an elevation of 1974 meters, is the highest peak in Cuba. Many other peaks higher than 1000 meters are present in this mountain range. The eastern end of Cuba is the most rugged part with the Sierra Maestra in the southeast and the Baracos Highlands in the northeast. The central part of the island includes the Santa Clara Hills rising to roughly 200 meters and the Escambray Mountains rising to nearly 700 meters. The Havana and Matanzas Highlands are found in the north-central part of the island near Havana. This is a structurally complex area. A mountainous are known as the Sierra de los Organos is found in the northwest. It is underlain by limestone producing a tropical cone karst landscape with ridgetops and peaks reaching 300 to 700 meters. Cuba is geologically diverse island. Many of the coastal plains and interior valleys are underlain by Quaternary to Recent sediments. As noted earlier, the Sierra de los Organos represents an are of predominantly limestone. The Havana and Matanzas Highlands and the Santa Clara Hills are underlain by folded and faulted sedimentary bedrock. Sandstones, conglomerates, shales, and dolomites of Cretaceous and Tertiary age are predominant. Various metamorphic rock types make up the Escambray Mountains. In the east, the Sierra Maestra are badly folded layers of sandstone, shale, breccia, and limestone of Paleocene age. Considerable amounts of serpentine and peridotite are exposed within folded sedimentary rock units in neighboring Baracos Highlands.
Landslides in Cuba
Literature review found no specific references to landslide activity on Cuba even where discussions on geomorphology, geology, or soils were present (Furrazola-Burmudez et al, 1964, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 1970).
It seems reasonable to expect landslides to occur in the Baracos Highlands, Sierra Maestra, and the Escambray Mountains in eastern and Central Cuba. These areas receive the higher rainfall during the year, host many steep slopes, and include bedrock with lithologic and stratigraphic conditions which appear to favor landslide development. Failures in colluvial material leading to debris flows and debris slides are expected when intense rainfall from hurricanes and major tropical depressions affect the Sierra Maestra, Baracos Highlands, and the Havana and Matanzas Highlands.
No information on the impact of landslide activity to economic activity or inhabitants is available. However, landslides are one of several geologic hazards considered in disaster planning efforts in Cuba (D. Alonso Dominquez, Personal Comm., 1987). This suggests landslides have created sufficiently significant impacts on the well being of inhabitants to result in their consideration in governmental disaster planning.
Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, 1970. Atlas Nacional de Cuba. Havana, La Academia de Ciencias de Cuba.
Fairbridge, R.W., 1975b. Cuba. In R.W. Fairbridge (ed.), The Encyclopedia of World Regional Geology, Part 1: Western Hemisphere, p. 252-255. Stroudburg, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross.
Furrazola-Bermudez, G. and C.M. Judoley, M.M. Mijailovskaya, Y.S. Miroliubov, I.P. Novojatsky, A.M. Jimenez and J.B. Solsona, 1964. Geologia de Cuba. Cuba, Instituto Cubano de Recoursos Minerales, Editora del Consejo Nacional de Universidades.
Rand McNally, 1988. World atlas of nations. New York: Rand McNally
(Taken from: DeGraff, J.V., Bryce, R., Jibson, R.W., Mora, S., and Rogers, C.T. 1989. Landslides: Their extent and significance in the Caribbean. In E.E. Brabb and B.L. Harrod (eds), Landslides: Extent and Economic Significance. p. 51-80. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema. )
"Transcribed by Nicholas DeGraff, University of California, Santa Cruz"
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