 1. The island arc basalts, IAB, in the Greater Antilles, dating between Albion and Midyacine Time, 112-45 MA, consist of an early low-K, primitive island arc, PIA, basalt series and a later, predominantly intermediate calcaline, CA, series. 2. The rocks resemble modern sediment-poor, low-light rare earth element, LRE, slash heavy rare earth element, HRE, arc basalts from interoceanic tectonic settings and sediment-rich, high-LRE-E-slash-HRE-E types from continental-margin arcs, respectively. 3. Isotope and incompatible trace-element distribution along a 450 km segment of the arc in the Northeast Antilles demonstrates that low-LRE-E-slash-HRE basalts predominate in Albion to Centonian, 85 MA, stratigraphic sequences in the Virgin Islands, 6, and Northeast Puerto Rico, NEPR, while there is a gradual but spectacular increase in both LRE-slash-HRE and absolute abundances of incompatible elements in central Puerto Rico, CPR. 4. Northeastern Antilles basalts have consistently elevated low-slash-NB and relatively low-NB-slash-ZR, both inconsistent with the presence of a significant ocean-island basalt component. 5. Observed differences are interpreted to reflect variation in proportions of pelagic sediments abducted by the south-dipping Antilles arc system as it swept northeastward across the Caribbean region and eventually approached the Bahama banks along the south. This article was authored by W. T. Jolly, E. G. Lidiak, and a Dickon. We are article.tv, links in the description below.