Paleontology and geologyDuring the Early Tertiary, Florida was submerged under a shallow sea where limy sediment accumulated on the sea floor. Later in the period, sands, silts, and clays from the eroding Appalachian Mountains filled a deep-water area (the Gulf Trough) that existed across a portion of what is now Florida’s panhandle. This deposition produced an emergent landmass that was rapidly invaded by terrestrial plants and animals. Sea level fluctuations continued in the Late Tertiary, and two of the world’s most species-rich deposits, the Miocene Chipola Formation in the panhandle and the Pliocene Pinecrest beds of southern Florida, formed. Each unit contains a molluscan fauna with a diversity of over 1,000 species. |