Petrographic and geochemical study of 79 samples from the Limestone Caribbee islands of Antigua, St. Martin and Desirade show different degrees of metasomatic alteration resulting from burial metamorphism up to lower zeolite facies (with laumontite and prehnite). In Antigua, Oligocene unaltered plagioclase basalt, andesite and dacite, identical to the low-K island-arc lavas of nearby Guadeloupe, occur with their partly and greatly altered equivalents. Most thoroughly altered are the flows, dykes and trondhjemite intrusion of Desirade island (in part Jurassic). Two types of alteration are closely associated in these islands. Spilitisation leading to albitisation of plagioclase, chloritisation of orthopyroxene and the formation of calcite, zeolite, i prehnite, ± epidote, ± native copper results in enrichment in Na2O (to 8.8 %) and depletion in K2O, CaO, Rb, Sr, Ba and Cu. Less common is poeneitisation, which resembles spilitisation but also involves sericitisation and partial replacement of plagioclase by alkali feldspar, in turn resulting in enrichment in K2O (to 9.4 %), Ba and often Na2O, Rb and Sr. Clinopyroxene and quartz are unchanged by the alteration. Comparison of the altered rocks with lavas from different tectonic environments reveals that metasomatism leads to nonmagmatic bulk compositions. The unaltered and least altered lavas are island arc type while the Ni content (which appears unaffected by metasomatism) indicates that the spilitic pillow lavas of E. Desirade are Ni-rich ocean floor basalts.