ABSTRACT
After a 400,000-year period of warm, subtropical conditions within the Belle Glade subsea, sea levels dropped precipitously, and the entire Florida platform was again emergent. Caused by the buildup of immense continental glaciers around the Northern hemisphere, this sea level drop marks the beginning of both the Tarantian age and the late Pleistocene. During Tarantian low sea levels, the Loxahatchee Trough area was covered with a system of the interconnected ephemeral marshlands and small lakes, establishing the framework for the modern Everglades. Locally, the freshwater beds are completely or partially indurated, forming thin limestone units. In the south, under the Atlantic Coastal ridge in the Dade county (subjacent to the Miami formation), the lower member of the Fort Thompson is present and is composed of a yellow or pale tan sandy limestone filled with the molds of dissolved mollusk shells.
