The Grenada Basin is a back arc basin located near the eastern border of the Caribbean Plate. The basin is bounded on the west by the north-south trending Aves Ridge (a remnant island arc) and on the east by the active Lesser Antilles island arc. Although this physiography suggests that east-west extension formed the basin, magnetic anomalies over the basins exhibit predominantly east-west trends. If the observed magnetic anomalies over the basin are produced by seafloor spreading, then the orientation of extension is complex. Extension in back arc basins is roughly normal to the trench, although some basins exhibit oblique extension. Present models for the formation of the Grenada Basin vary from north-south extension through northeast-southwest extension to east-west extension. An interpretation of magnetic anomalies over the Grenada Basin supports basin development by nearly east-west extension. Low amplitude magnetic anomaly trends subparallel to the island arc magnetic anomaly trends over the southern part of the basin and the results of forward three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic modeling are consistent with this conclusion. Late Cenozoic tectonic movements may have been responsible for disrupting the magnetic signature over the northern part of the basin. On the basis of our 3-D analysis, we attribute the prominent east-west trending anomalies of the Grenada Basin to fracture zones formed during seafloor spreading at low latitude. This east-west trend is not interpreted as indicating north-south extension of the basin. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993