Florida has unique origins. What would become the basement rocks of Florida were once part of other continents. During the early part of the Cenozoic Era, Florida was submerged under a warm, shallow, ocean which explains why our entire state has hundreds to thousands of feet of limestone beneath it! Land emerged from the ocean as sea level fell during the Oligocene Epoch.
Florida’s Geological History 2 This feature is called the “West Florida Escarpment.” From the base of the West Florida Escarpment (the abyssal plain)
During the early Mesozoic Era (251 – 66 mya) the supercontinent of Pangea began to rift and break apart. As North America separated from Africa a small portion of the African plate detached and was carried away with the North American plate.This provided some of the foundation upon which Florida now rests.. The emergent portion of the platform was created during the Eocene to Oligocene as ...
Full Exhibit Text INTRODUCTION - 500 Million Years of Florida Geology The Florida we are all so familiar with is a relatively new phenomenon, geologically speaking. This distinctive peninsula of land we live on, and the gently sloping, sandy shorelines we’re drawn to for recreation and renewal,
As part of the continent Gondwana 650 million years ago, the foundation of Florida was tucked between the land masses that would become South America and Africa. The rest of eastern North America was then part of another continent called Laurentia.
At this point Florida’s basement rock was located north of the equator, much closer to its current position, but was surrounded by land. Florida was near the middle of the Pangea supercontinent, far from any ocean, probably surrounded by desert.
As the Earth’s tectonic plates shifted, the basement rocks of our modern continents moved across the globe. About 300 million years ago, Gondwana and Laurentia collided, forming the Appalachian Mountains in what would become North America and the Mauritanide Mountains in what would eventually be Africa. The Florida portion of Gondwana joined ...
Pangea did not last long from a geological perspective, breaking up after just 85 million years. The breakup of Pangea resulted in the creation of Florida as a peninsula. “North America separated from Africa, South America separated from Africa, Europe and Asia did their own thing, India broke away and slammed into the south side of Asia, ...
Prehistoric animals and probably Pre-Columbian people lived on dry land that is now submerged under 200 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
At different points in geologic history, Florida has been totally submerged, but it has also been twice as wide as it is now.
Recently, it has become widely accepted that late Holocene, 3,000 calendar years ago to present, sea level was nearly stable prior to an acceleration of rate of rise that is variously dated between 1850 and 1900 AD. Late Holocene rates of sea level rise have been estimated using evidence from archaeological sites and late Holocene tidal marsh sediments, combined with tide gauge and satellite records and geophysical modeling. For example, this research included studies of Roman wells in Caesarea and of Roman piscinae in Italy. These methods in combination suggest a mean eustatic component of 0.07 mm/yr for the last 2000 years.
The last time the sea level was higher than today was during the Eemian, about 130,000 years ago. Over a shorter timescale, the low level reached during the LGM rebounded in the early Holocene, between about 14,000 and 6,000 years ago, and sea levels have been comparatively stable over the past 6,000 years.
This results in sedimentary cycles which in some cases can be correlated around the world with great confidence. This relatively new branch of geological science linking eustatic sea level to sedimentary deposits is called sequence stratigraphy .
Over geological timescales, changes in the shape of the oceanic basins and in land/sea distribution affect sea level. In addition to eustatic changes, local changes in sea level are caused by tectonic uplift and subsidence. Over geologic time sea level has fluctuated by more than 300 metres, possibly more than 400 metres.
During the most recent ice age (at its maximum about 20,000 years ago) the world's sea level was about 130 m lower than today, due to the large amount of sea water that had evaporated and been deposited as snow and ice, mostly in the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Most of this had melted by about 10,000 years ago.
The Mediterranean Basin 's gradual growth as the Neotethys basin, begun in the Jurassic, did not suddenly affect ocean levels. While the Mediterranean was forming during the past 100 million years, the average ocean level was generally 200 metres above current levels. However, the largest known example of marine flooding was when the Atlantic breached the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis about 5.2 million years ago. This restored Mediterranean sea levels at the sudden end of the period when that basin had dried up, apparently due to geologic forces in the area of the Strait.
This affects global sea level by altering the depths of various ocean basins and also by altering glacier distribution with resulting changes in glacial-interglacial cycles. Changes in glacial-interglacial cycles are at least partially affected by changes in glacier distributions across the a Earth.
As part of the continent Gondwana 650 million years ago, the foundation of Florida was tucked between the land masses that would become South America and Africa. The rest of eastern North America was then part of another continent called Laurentia.
At this point Florida’s basement rock was located north of the equator, much closer to its current position, but was surrounded by land. Florida was near the middle of the Pangea supercontinent, far from any ocean, probably surrounded by desert.
As the Earth’s tectonic plates shifted, the basement rocks of our modern continents moved across the globe. About 300 million years ago, Gondwana and Laurentia collided, forming the Appalachian Mountains in what would become North America and the Mauritanide Mountains in what would eventually be Africa. The Florida portion of Gondwana joined ...
Pangea did not last long from a geological perspective, breaking up after just 85 million years. The breakup of Pangea resulted in the creation of Florida as a peninsula. “North America separated from Africa, South America separated from Africa, Europe and Asia did their own thing, India broke away and slammed into the south side of Asia, ...
Prehistoric animals and probably Pre-Columbian people lived on dry land that is now submerged under 200 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
At different points in geologic history, Florida has been totally submerged, but it has also been twice as wide as it is now.