Most commonly known as thePuerto Rico Bank andPuerto Rican Bank, the bank is named after the largest island within its limits, the eponymousmain island of the archipelago ofPuerto Rico. The part of the bank covering theVirgin Islands is occasionally referred to as theVirgin Bank.[16][17][18]
Including the island within the Puerto Rico Bank, it measures 350km (218mi) in length and 40 to 80 km (25 to 50 mi) in width.[4][3] Around themain island ofPuerto Rico, the bank is 2 to 15 km (1.2 to 9.3 mi) wide from the southeast to the southwest, over 15 to 2 km (9.3 to 1.2 mi) wide from the southwest to northwest, and less than 2 km (1.2 mi) wide from the northwest to the northeast.[23] Around thearchipelago of the Virgin Islands, the bank is 40 to 65 km (25 to 40 mi) wide.
The Puerto Rico Bank is less than 79m (260ft) in depth, with the portion connecting all the islands being less than 40 metres (130 feet) in depth.[24][25] All islands and cays in the archipelago of Puerto Rico, including Vieques and Culebra, are connected less than 25 metres (82 feet). Similarly, the main islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands are connected by less than 25 metres (82 feet).[26][11][27][28][29][30][31] The Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra and the American and British islands are separated by a narrowstrait, the Virgin Passage, which is 16 km (10 m) in length and 20 to 32 m (66 to 105 ft) in depth.[16]
With anarea of 21,000 km2 (8,100 sq mi),[4][32] it was last fully exposed during theLast Glacial Maximum when the sea level was 120 metres (390 feet) lower than the present-day.[15] The bank was inundated bysea level rise during theLate Pleistocene andEarly Holocene, losingsubaerial connection the main island of Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands with the U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands 10,000 to 8,000 yearsBefore Present ago (8,050 to 6,050 yearsBefore Christ ago). The main island of Puerto Rico with Vieques, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands with each other lost their land connection 7,000 years BP ago (5,050 years BC ago), while the main island of Puerto Rico with some of its minorislands, cays, and islets 3,000 BP years ago (1,050 BC years ago).[10][11]
^abExcluding the westernmost islands ofDesecheo,Mona, andMonito, which are politically part of thearchipelago of Puerto Rico but are not geologically part of the Puerto Rico Bank, as they lie on their own platforms.
^abExcluding the southernmost island ofSaint Croix, which is politically part of theVirgin Islands but is not geologically part of the Puerto Rico Bank, as it lies on its own platform.
^Schärer-Umpierre, Michelle T.; Mateos-Molina, Daniel; Appeldoorn, Richard; Bejarano, Ivonne; Hernández-Delgado, Edwin A.; Nemeth, Richard S.; Nemeth, Michael I.; Valdés-Pizzini, Manuel; Smith, Tyler B. (2014-01-01), Johnson, Magnus L.; Sandell, Jane (eds.),"Chapter Four - Marine Managed Areas and Associated Fisheries in the US Caribbean",Advances in Marine Biology, Marine Managed Areas and Fisheries, vol. 69, Academic Press, pp. 129–152,doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800214-8.00004-9, retrieved2024-10-10
.jpg)
