ABSTRACT
When compared to the time scale of human life, land seems like a permanent base composed of earth with unchanging rocks. In Florida, however, the land cycle is very slow, the highest land being only about 300 feet. Uplands are covered with vegetation—some natural, some cultivated farms, and some yard plantings. The geological materials on top become a part of these ecosystems. In the main process of solution of limestone, the most common Florida rock, rains percolating through upland soils and wetlands pick up carbon dioxide. The materials for the massive structure of the Florida peninsula were added gradually. Because south Florida has been sticking out in a tropical sea a long way from hard continental rocks, the predominant sedimentary rock in its mass is limestone. In Florida, rains are abundant in most months, with an occasional drier period or drier year. The chapter summarizes the rainfall from all the many kinds of storms.
