Tamiami Formation

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Tamiami Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Miocene-Late Pliocene
~13.06–2.6  Ma
Cerithium dalli SR 02-224 02.jpg
Fossil (Cerithium dalli) from the Tamiami Formation
Type Geological formation
Sub-unitsBuckingham Limestone Member, Ochopee Limestone Member, Bonita Springs Marl Member, Golden Gate Reef Member, Pinecrest Sand Member
Overlies Hawthorn Group (see text)
Thickness50–100 ft (15–30 m)
Lithology
Primary Sandstone, claystone, limestone
Other Phosphate
Location
Region Southwest Florida
Country United States
Extent Charlotte-Monroe Counties
Type section
Named for Tamiami Trail (highway)

The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula. [1]

Contents

Age

Period : Neogene
Epoch : Late Miocene to Pliocene
Faunal stage : Clarendonian through Blancan ~13.06–2.588 mya, calculates to a period of 10.472 million years

Location

Location of Taniami Formation in Florida. Tamiami Formation map.png
Location of Taniami Formation in Florida.

The Tamiami Formation appears in the counties of Charlotte, Lee, Hendry, Collier and Monroe. It is widespread in Florida and part of the intermediate confining aquifer system. [2] The Tamiami formation overlies the Hawthorn at every locality where the Hawthorn has been penetrated and is overlain unconformably by the Caloosahatchee marl of the Pliocene in Charlotte County.

Composition

The Tamiami Formation contains a wide range of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic lithologies and associated faunas. It occurs at or near the land surface in the southern peninsula with numerous named and unnamed members recognized within the Tamiami Formation. Its unevenness indicates that the upper part has been subjected to erosion. [3]

Lithologies

The Tamiami Formation includes:

Phosphate is present in limited quantities throughout the Tamiami in sand and gravel.

Sub-units

Fossils

Fossils appear in casts and molds, as well as original material.

References

  1. Parker, Garald G., 1951, Geologic and hydrologic factors in the perennial yield of the Biscayne aquifer: Jour. Am. Water Works Assoc., v. 43, no. 10, p. 817–834, 7 figs.
  2. Mansfield, W. C., 1939, Notes on the upper Tertiary and Pleistocene mollusks of peninsular Florida: Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 18, 75 p.
  3. Missimer, T.M., 1992, Stratigraphic relationships of sediment facies within the Tamiami Formation of southwestern Florida: Proposed intraformational correlations; in Scott, T.M., and Allmon, W.D., (eds.), The Plio-Pleistocene stratigraphy and paleontology of southern Florida; Florida Geological Survey Special Publication 36, p. 63–92.

Further reading