TY - JOUR
T1 - Pleistocene Carbonate Stratigraphy of South Florida: Evidence for High-Frequency Sea-Level Cyclicity
AU - Hickey, Todd D.
AU - Hine, Albert C.
AU - Shinn, Eugene A.
AU - Kruse, Sarah
AU - Poore, Richard Z.
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - Pleistocene carbonates of south Florida and islands of the Florida Keys are currently divided into five marine sequences designated, from oldest to youngest, the Q1–Q5 units. The units include a mosaic of freshwater and shallow marine deposits that accumulated on the Florida platform during high sea-level stands. The units are separated by regional-scale subaerial-exposure surfaces that formed during glacioeustatic lowstands. Analyses of cores recovered at Grossman Ridge Rock Reef and Joe Ree Rock Reef in the Florida Everglades reveal additional subaerial-exposure surfaces that are used to delineate subdivisions within units Q1 (Q1a–Q1b), Q2 (Q2a–Q2d), and Q4 (Q4a–Q4b). Units Q1–Q5 preserve evidence of at least 10 separate sea-level highstands, rather than 5 as indicated by previous studies. Compilation of available uranium-series dates on corals recovered from the Florida Keys indicates that the Q4 unit accreted during sea-level maxima associated with marine oxygen-isotope Stage 9 (Q4a) and isotope Stage 7 (Q4b). The Q5 unit formed during isotope Stage 5. No reliable dates are available for units Q1–Q3. We infer that unit Q3 was formed during the extended sea-level highstand of isotope Stage 11 and that units Q2 and Q1 predate isotope Stage 11.
AB - Pleistocene carbonates of south Florida and islands of the Florida Keys are currently divided into five marine sequences designated, from oldest to youngest, the Q1–Q5 units. The units include a mosaic of freshwater and shallow marine deposits that accumulated on the Florida platform during high sea-level stands. The units are separated by regional-scale subaerial-exposure surfaces that formed during glacioeustatic lowstands. Analyses of cores recovered at Grossman Ridge Rock Reef and Joe Ree Rock Reef in the Florida Everglades reveal additional subaerial-exposure surfaces that are used to delineate subdivisions within units Q1 (Q1a–Q1b), Q2 (Q2a–Q2d), and Q4 (Q4a–Q4b). Units Q1–Q5 preserve evidence of at least 10 separate sea-level highstands, rather than 5 as indicated by previous studies. Compilation of available uranium-series dates on corals recovered from the Florida Keys indicates that the Q4 unit accreted during sea-level maxima associated with marine oxygen-isotope Stage 9 (Q4a) and isotope Stage 7 (Q4b). The Q5 unit formed during isotope Stage 5. No reliable dates are available for units Q1–Q3. We infer that unit Q3 was formed during the extended sea-level highstand of isotope Stage 11 and that units Q2 and Q1 predate isotope Stage 11.
KW - South Florida chronostratigraphy
KW - South Florida lithostratigraphy
KW - paleodepositional environments
KW - carbonate accumulation
KW - soilstone crusts
KW - sea-level cyclicity
KW - Pleistocene accumulation chronology
UR - https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/919
UR - https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-09-00052.1
U2 - 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-09-00052.1
DO - 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-09-00052.1
M3 - Article
VL - 26
JO - Journal of Coastal Research
JF - Journal of Coastal Research
ER -