The Biscayne Aquifer, named after Biscayne Bay, is a surficial aquifer. It is a shallow layer of highly permeable limestone under a portion of South Florida. The area it underlies includes Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Monroe County, and Palm Beach County, a total of about 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2). [1]
The water-absorbing layers of rock underlying south Florida divide into three layers. The Biscayne Aquifer is closest to the surface and because of this it directly interacts with natural and man-made bodies of surface water, such as streams, lakes, canals and reservoirs. The ground water and the aquifer currently are managed as an integrated water system. [2]
Because the top part of the Biscayne aquifer is the water table, this aquifer is known as an unconfined aquifer. Since it merges with the floor of Biscayne Bay and with the Atlantic Ocean, it is also a coastal aquifer. [3] Both of these factors contribute to its potential contamination. Lowered water tables, primarily from over-pumping, could allow salt water intrusion without man-made interventions such as dam-like structures that control fresh and salt water levels in canals. Because the aquifer is so close to the surface, it is extremely vulnerable to surface contaminants. A massive saltwater plume is radiating from the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station toward wellfields in the aquifer. [4]
The South Florida Water Management District controls an extensive system of canals and other control systems and pumping stations along with the Biscayne Aquifer, Lake Okeechobee and three other large water conservation areas as it monitors and controls the storage and release of the water in the district. It must take into account the danger of salt water intrusion and monitor water demand while it manages surplus flood water and maintains water table levels and adequate water supplies. [1]
The Biscayne Aquifer supplies South Florida metropolitan area with its primary source of fresh water. This area includes most of south Florida (Miami-Dade, Monroe, and parts of Broward Counties) as well was other urban areas stretching from Homestead, Florida to Delray Beach, Florida. Further, water from the Biscayne Aquifer is piped to the Florida Keys. [1]
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An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials. Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology. Related terms include aquitard, which is a bed of low permeability along an aquifer, and aquiclude, which is a solid, impermeable area underlying or overlying an aquifer, the pressure of which could create a confined aquifer. The classification of aquifers is as follows: Saturated versus unsaturated; aquifers versus aquitards; confined versus unconfined; isotropic versus anisotropic; porous, karst, or fractured; transboundary aquifer.
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The ecosystem it forms is not presently found anywhere else on earth. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades experience a wide range of weather patterns, from frequent flooding in the wet season to drought in the dry season. Throughout the 20th century, the Everglades suffered significant loss of habitat and environmental degradation.
Biscayne National Park is an American national park in southern Florida, south of Miami. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers 172,971 acres and includes Elliott Key, the park's largest island and northernmost of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossilized coral reef. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world.
Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. An average of one million people visit the park each year. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. UNESCO declared the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1979, and the Ramsar Convention included the park on its list of Wetlands of International Importance in 1987. Everglades is one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists.
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon, with characteristics of an estuary, located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area, while the southern end is largely undeveloped, with a large portion of the lagoon included in Biscayne National Park. Sources differ on the extent of the lagoon. The part of the lagoon that is traditionally called "Biscayne Bay" is approximately 35 miles (56 km) long and up to 8 miles (13 km) wide, with a surface area of 221 square miles (570 km2). Various definitions may include Dumfoundling Bay, Card Sound, and Barnes Sound in a larger "Biscayne Bay", which is 60 miles (97 km) long, with a surface area of about 271 square miles (700 km2).
The Miami River is a river in the United States state of Florida that drains out of the Everglades and runs through the city of Miami, including Downtown. The 5.5-mile (8.9 km) long river flows from the terminus of the Miami Canal at Miami International Airport to Biscayne Bay. It was originally a natural river inhabited at its mouth by the Tequesta Indians, but it was dredged and is now polluted throughout its route through Miami-Dade County. The mouth of the river is home to the Port of Miami and many other businesses whose pressure to maintain it has helped to improve the river's condition.
The Miami metropolitan area is the ninth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world with a 2020 population of 6.138 million people.
Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can lead to groundwater quality degradation, including drinking water sources, and other consequences. Saltwater intrusion can naturally occur in coastal aquifers, owing to the hydraulic connection between groundwater and seawater. Because saline water has a higher mineral content than freshwater, it is denser and has a higher water pressure. As a result, saltwater can push inland beneath the freshwater. In other topologies, submarine groundwater discharge can push fresh water into saltwater.
State Road 9336, also known in parts as the Ingraham Highway, Tower Road and West Palm Drive, is an 8.75-mile-long (14.08 km) two- to four-lane road in Miami-Dade County, in the U.S. state of Florida. The route is the only signed four-digit state road in Florida. The route connects US 1, and the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike by proxy, in Florida City with the Everglades National Park, acting as the park's primary mode of entry. The road continues on from its western terminus at the national park's entrance as Main Park Road for another 39.3 miles (63.2 km), providing access to many of the park's facilities and the ghost town of Flamingo, in Monroe County, at its western end.
Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear and gas-fired power plant located on a 3,300-acre (1,300 ha) site two miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Miami, Florida near the southernmost edge of Miami-Dade County. The facility is owned by Florida Power & Light.
State Road 909 is a 3.77-mile-long (6.07 km) state highway in northern Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It runs along West Dixie Highway, the original alignment of the Dixie Highway, from the east end of Gratigny Drive in North Miami northeast to North Miami Beach Boulevard in North Miami Beach, just across the Florida East Coast Railway from Biscayne Boulevard. State Road 909 is actually in two pieces as motorists traveling the route in North Miami encounter signs on North Miami Boulevard saying "TO 909" and "To W Dixie Hwy" and guiding them along a two-block "detour" to the other section.
Surficial aquifers are shallow aquifers typically less than 50 feet (15 m) thick, but larger surficial aquifers of about 60 feet (18 m) have been mapped. They mostly consist of unconsolidated sand enclosed by layers of limestone, sandstone or clay and the water is commonly extracted for urban use. The aquifers are replenished by streams and from precipitation and can vary in volume considerably as the water table fluctuates. Being shallow, they are susceptible to contamination by fuel spills, industrial discharge, landfills, and saltwater. Parts of southeastern United States are dependent on surficial aquifers for their water supplies.
The effects of Climate change in Florida is attributable to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Floridians are experiencing increased flooding due to sea level rise, and are concerned about the possibility of more frequent or more intense hurricanes.
The South Florida Council is a 501(c)(3) organization chartered by the Boy Scouts of America to serve Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties in South Florida. As of 2018 the South Florida Council had a membership of more than 43,000 youth and adults.
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in the United States. It is also Florida's third largest county in terms of land area, with 1,946 square miles (5,040 km2). The county seat is Miami, the core of the nation's ninth largest and world's 34th largest metropolitan area with a 2020 population of 6.138 million people.
The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass transit (Metrorail), commuter rail (Tri-Rail), automated guideway transit (Metromover), highways, two major airports and seaports, as well as three county-wide bus networks, which cover the entire urbanized area of South Florida. Census and ridership data show that Miami has the highest public transportation usage of any city in Florida, as about 17% of Miamians use public transportation on a regular basis, compared to about 4% of commuters in the South Florida metropolitan area. The majority of public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), which is currently the largest transit system in Florida and was the 14th largest transit system in the United States in 2011.
WZFL is a radio station licensed to Islamorada, Florida, and serves South Florida metropolitan areas of Miami, Dade County, and the Florida Keys. The station also utilizes a pair of relay transmitters that also broadcast at 93.5, W228BY, and Fort Lauderdale, which also simulcasts WHYI-HD2). WZFL itself is owned by ANCO Media Group. The studios for the station are located on Northwest 23rd Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami. WZFL's transmitter is located on Windley Key in Islamorada, while W228BY's transmitter is located atop One Biscayne Tower in Downtown Miami and also Broward County.
Seawater intrusion is either caused by groundwater extraction or increased in sea level. For every 1 foot of freshwater depression, sea-salty waters rises 40 feet as the cone of depression forms. Salinization of groundwater is one of the main water pollution ever produced by mankind or from natural processes. It degrades water quality to the point it passes acceptable drink water and irrigation standards. To this day, the State of California enforced several methodologies through technical innovation and scientific approach to combat saltwater intrusion in areas vulnerable to saltwater intrusion.
The geology of Arizona began to form in the Precambrian. Igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock may have been much older, but was overwritten during the Yavapai and Mazatzal orogenies in the Proterozoic. The Grenville orogeny to the east caused Arizona to fill with sediments, shedding into a shallow sea. Limestone formed in the sea was metamorphosed by mafic intrusions. The Great Unconformity is a famous gap in the stratigraphic record, as Arizona experienced 900 million years of terrestrial conditions, except in isolated basins. The region oscillated between terrestrial and shallow ocean conditions during the Paleozoic as multi-cellular life became common and three major orogenies to the east shed sediments before North America became part of the supercontinent Pangaea. The breakup of Pangaea was accompanied by the subduction of the Farallon Plate, which drove volcanism during the Nevadan orogeny and the Sevier orogeny in the Mesozoic, which covered much of Arizona in volcanic debris and sediments. The Mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up created smaller mountain ranges with extensive ash and lava in the Cenozoic, followed by the sinking of the Farallon slab in the mantle throughout the past 14 million years, which has created the Basin and Range Province. Arizona has extensive mineralization in veins, due to hydrothermal fluids and is notable for copper-gold porphyry, lead, zinc, rare minerals formed from copper enrichment and evaporites among other resources.
