Geography of Aruba

Geography Of Aruba

Aruba is a small Caribbean island (54 sq mi/140 km2) about the size of Washington, D.C., located 25 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 68 km northwest of Curaçao, the largest island of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba’s terrain is mostly flat with a few hills. There is little in the way of vegetation or outstanding physical features and no inland water. Aruba’s best-known geographical feature is its white-sand beaches, which are the basis of an active tourism industry that is the mainstay of the island’s economy. Aruba is situated on the Caribbean Tectonic Plate.

The core of the island is made up of Turonian submarine and subaerial basalts which were formed in the Caribbean large igneous province. These basalts were intruded by a tonalite pluton shortly after their eruption. The shore areas are mainly limestone-capped hills and ridges, with cliffs on the northern and northeastern coasts and coral reefs on the southern coast.