View the Geologic Time Scale
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Volcanic Highlights and Features:
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[NOTE: This list is just a sample of
various Florida features or events and is by no means inclusive. All information presented here was gathered from other online websites and each excerpt is attributed back to the original source. Please use those sources in referencing any information on this webpage, and please visit those websites for more information on the Geology of Florida.]
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- Florida
- Florida Regions
- Florida's Basement Rocks
- Florida's Igneous Rocks
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Florida's geologic history begins deep beneath its surface where
ancient rocks indicate that Florida was once a part of
northwest Africa. As ancient supercontinents split apart,
collided, and rifted again, a fragment of Africa remained
attached to North America. This fragment formed the base for the carbonate
buildup which includes the Florida and Bahamas Platforms.
Much of the surface of Florida is covered by sediment
(loose mineral particles, such as quartz sand), or
sedimentary rocks such as limestone and dolostone.
Igneous and metamorphic rocks
do not occur naturally at the surface, but are
found in deep wells reaching
from 3,500 feet to deeper than 18,670 feet below land surface.
Excerpt from:
Florida Geological Survey Website, 2001
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The Atlantic Plain:3
The Atlantic Plain is the flattest of the provinces. It stretches
over 2,200 miles in length from Cape Cod to the
Mexican border and southward another 1000 miles
to the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Atlantic plain slopes gently seaward from
the inland highlands in a series of terraces. This
gentle slope continues far into the Atlantic and Gulf
of Mexico, forming the continental shelf.
This region was born during the
breakup of the supercontinent Pangea
in the early Mesozoic Era.
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Florida Platform:2
The Florida Platform lies on the south-central part of the North American
Plate, extending to the southeast from the North American continent
separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida
Platform, as measured about the 300 foot isopath, spans more than 350
miles at its greatest width and extends southward more than 450 miles at
its greatest length. The modern Florida peninsula is the exposed part of
the platform and lies predominanly east of the axis of the platform.
Most of the State of Florida lies on the Florida Platform; the western
panhandle is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain.
The basement rocks of the Florida Platform include Precambrian-Cambrian
igneous rocks, Ordovician-Devonian Sedimentary rocks, and
Triassic-Jurassic volcanic rocks.
Florida's igneous and sedimentary
foundation separated from what is now the African Plate when the
super-continent Pangea rifted apart in the Triassic (pre-Middle Jurassic?)
and sutured to the North American craton.
Florida's Volcanic Rocks:1
Igneous and metamorphic rocks
do not occur naturally at the surface, but are
found in deep wells reaching
from 3,500 feet to deeper than 18,670 feet below land surface.
1) Florida Geological Survey, 2001
2) Scott, et.al., 2001,
Text to Accompany the Geologic Map of Florida,
Florida Geological Survey Open-File Report 80
3) USGS/NPS Geology in the Parks Website, 2001
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