Aves Ridge

14°00′N 63°30′W

Topographic/bathymetric map of the Caribbean, with the Aves Ridge to the west of the Lesser Antilles

The Aves Ridge is a ridge in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It runs in a north-south direction, approximately 250 km west of the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc. It is mostly under water, but it reaches the surface in the north as Aves Island and in the south as La Blanquilla Island.^[1][2] Most geologists believe that the Aves Ridge originated as a volcanic arc which is now extinct, though its width poses a problem;^[3] the date of its origin is generally placed in the Cretaceous.^[4][5] The GAARlandia hypothesis posits that the Aves Ridge was above sea level for a short time around 33 million years ago (around the Eocene–Oligocene boundary), allowing South American land animals to expand to the Greater Antilles.^[6]