Peace River Formation (Florida)

Last updated
Peace River Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Oligocene-Early Miocene
Phosphatic Gravel Peace River Formation.jpg
Phosphatic gravel exposed on the bank of the Peace River near Zolfo Springs
Type Geological formation
Unit of Hawthorn Group
Sub-unitsBone Valley Member
Thickness600 feet
Lithology
Primary Sand, clay, carbonates
Other dolomite with phosphate, chert
Location
Region Central Florida
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Type section
Named for Peace River, Florida
Location of the Peace River Formation in Florida. Peace River Formation Florida map.png
Location of the Peace River Formation in Florida.
Fossil (Gavialosuchus americanus) from the Peace River Formation, Florida Gavialosuchus americanus Expominer 07.jpg
Fossil (Gavialosuchus americanus) from the Peace River Formation, Florida

The Peace River Formation is a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene geologic formation in the west-central Florida peninsula.

Contents

Age

Period : Neogene
Epoch : Miocene to Pliocene
Faunal stage : Arikareean through Hemphillian, ~23.03–4.9 mya, calculates to a period of ~ 18.13 million years

Location

The Peace River Formation appears as an outcropping or is beneath a thin overburden from Hillsborough County to Charlotte County on the southern part of the Ocala Platform. extending into the Okeechobee Basin. It is widespread in Florida and part of the intermediate confining aquifer system.

Lithology

The formation is composed of sands, clays and carbonates which are interbedded. The sands are light gray to olive gray and poorly consolidated. They are clay-like with some dolomite with a very fine to medium grained phosphate component. Carbonates are usually light gray to yellowish dolomite found in outcroppings. The dolomites are soft to hard with variably sandy, clay-like, phosphate components with opaline chert often found. The phosphate content is high enough to warrant mining. [1] [2]

Three sequences of sediment deposition were defined in 1998. Five lithofacies were identified in 2000 (upper part of the formation). [3]

Fossils

Members

The Bone Valley Member (originally the Bone Valley Formation) is a subunit of the Peace River Formation and occurs in a limited area on the southern part of the Ocala Platform in Hillsborough, Polk County, and Hardee County. (Webb & Crissinger). It is consistently clastic with sand-sized grains and larger grains of phosphate in a mixture of quartz sand, silt and clay. The consolidation is poor and colors range from white, light brown and yellowish gray to olive gray and blue green. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of the Capitol Reef area</span>

The exposed geology of the Capitol Reef area presents a record of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation in an area of North America in and around Capitol Reef National Park, on the Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah.

The Floridan aquifer system, composed of the Upper and Lower Floridan aquifers, is a sequence of Paleogene carbonate rock which spans an area of about 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) in the southeastern United States. It underlies the entire state of Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mudrock</span> Type of sedimentary rock

Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than 116 mm and are too small to study readily in the field. At first sight, the rock types appear quite similar; however, there are important differences in composition and nomenclature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torreya Formation</span>

The Torreya Formation is a Miocene geologic formation with an outcrop in North Florida. It is within the Hawthorn Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suwannee Limestone</span>

The Suwannee Limestone is an Early Oligocene geologic formation of exposed limestones in North Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avon Park Formation</span> Middle Eocene geologic formation in Florida, U.S.

The Avon Park Formation is a Middle Eocene geologic formation and is the oldest exposed sediments in Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coosawhatchie Formation</span> Geologic formation in Florida, US

The Coosawhatchie Formation is a Miocene geologic formation with an outcrop in North Florida. It is within the Hawthorn Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawthorn Group</span> Stratigraphic unit of Miocene age in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida

The Hawthorn Group is a stratigraphic unit of Miocene age in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in the United States. It is known for its phosphate rock resources, and for its rich assemblages of Neogene vertebrate fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arcadia Formation</span>

The Arcadia Formation and its sub-unit, the Tampa Member, are Late Oligocene geologic formations in North Florida, United States. It is part of the Hawthorn Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipola Formation</span>

The Chipola Formation is a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene geologic formation in the Florida Panhandle and member of the Alum Bluff Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Island (Florida)</span>

Orange Island is the earliest emergent landmass of Florida dating from the middle Rupelian ~33.9—28.4 Ma. geologic stage of the Early Oligocene epoch and named for Orange County, Florida, United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamiami Formation</span> Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula

The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statenville Formation</span>

The Statenville Formation is a geological formation of northern Florida, USA.

The Alum Bluff Group is a geologic group in the states of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bone Valley Formation</span> Geologic formation in Florida, United States

The Bone Valley Formation is a geologic formation in Florida. It is sometimes classified as the upper member of the Peace River Formation of the Hawthorn Group. It contains economically important phosphorite deposits that are mined in west-central Florida, as well as rich assemblages of vertebrate fossils.

The geology of Tunisia is defined by the tectonics of North Africa, with large highlands like the Atlas Mountains as well as basins such as the Tunisian Trough. Geologists have identified rock units in the country as much as a quarter-billion years old, although most units date to the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, in the past 250 million years. Tunisia has a small but active mining industry and a significant oil and natural gas sector.

The geology of Ohio formed beginning more than one billion years ago in the Proterozoic eon of the Precambrian. The igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock is poorly understood except through deep boreholes and does not outcrop at the surface. The basement rock is divided between the Grenville Province and Superior Province. When the Grenville Province crust collided with Proto-North America, it launched the Grenville orogeny, a major mountain building event. The Grenville mountains eroded, filling in rift basins and Ohio was flooded and periodically exposed as dry land throughout the Paleozoic. In addition to marine carbonates such as limestone and dolomite, large deposits of shale and sandstone formed as subsequent mountain building events such as the Taconic orogeny and Acadian orogeny led to additional sediment deposition. Ohio transitioned to dryland conditions in the Pennsylvanian, forming large coal swamps and the region has been dryland ever since. Until the Pleistocene glaciations erased these features, the landscape was cut with deep stream valleys, which scoured away hundreds of meters of rock leaving little trace of geologic history in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.

The geology of Bahrain is poorly studied before the Cenozoic. Extensive sedimentary formations from the Eocene through recent times cover much of the island.

The geology of Saudi Arabia includes Precambrian igneous and metamorphic basement rocks, exposed across much of the country. Thick sedimentary sequences from the Phanerozoic dominate much of the country's surface and host oil.

References

Further reading