The St. Vincent Grenadines form the southern part of the Lesser
Antilles.
They were formerly part of what were known as the Windward
Islands.
Only St. Vincent, itself, at the northern end of the chain
is volcanically active.
The Grenadines themselves are barely several hundred feet
above sea-level
and consist largely of coral, established on the volcanic
rocks.
The composition of the volcanics is much more diverse than
that of the active islands further north.
Though they are dominated by basalt and basaltic andesite
volcanism
with a preponderance of incompatible elements compared with
the northern volcanoes.
The volcanic rocks range in age from Middle Eocene to Recent.
Stamps for the Grenadines were first issued in 1973 but were
overprints
of the regular St. Vincent stamps.
The stamps with maps of the Grenadines illustrated below,
were issued May 9th, 1974
and represent the first stamps specifically designed for that
region.
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