The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

in the southwest Florida peninsula.

Age

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

: Neogene

Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

: Late Miocene to

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Faunal stage In chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by convent ...

Clarendonian The Clarendonian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 13,600,000 to 10,300,000 years BP, a period of . It is ...

through Blancan ~13.06–2.588 mya, calculates to a period of

Location

The Tamiami Formation appears in the counties of

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, Lee, Hendry, Collier and Monroe. It is widespread in Florida and part of the intermediate confining

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...

system. 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 The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate ...

siliciclastic Siliciclastic (or ''siliclastic'') rocks are clastic noncarbonate sedimentary rocks that are composed primarily of silicate minerals, such as quartz or clay minerals. Siliciclasic rock types include mudrock, sandstone, and conglomerate Conglomera ...

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 Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

.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.

Lithologies

The Tamiami Formation includes: * light gray to tan, unconsolidated, fine to coarse grained sand with fossils * light gray to green, poorly consolidated, fossil bearing sandy clay to clayey sand * light gray, poorly consolidated, very fine to medium grained,

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

, fossil bearing sand * white to light gray, poorly consolidated, sandy, fossil bearing limestone * white to light gray, moderately to well hardened, sandy, fossiliferous limestone

Phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

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

Sub-units

* Bonita Springs Marl Member * Golden Gate Reef Member * Ochopee Limestone Member * Pinecrest Sand Member

Fossils

Fossils appear in casts and molds, as well as original material. * Barnacles * Mollusks ('' Ostrea disparilis'', '' Chione ulocyma'', and '' Turritella pontoni'') *

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

s *

Echinoid Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

s *

Foraminifer Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an ...

s *

Nanoplankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cruc ...

(

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References

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Age

Location

Lithologies

Sub-units

Fossils

References

Further reading