Shenandoah National Park And Florida Geologic Setting

One hundred years ago the Everglades covered close to 4 million acres between Lake Okeechobee and the Gulf of Mexico. Billions of gallons of water flowed into the Everglades. The population of the East coast of Florida was 23,000. This was partially due to a lack of suitable land for housing because of periodic flooding and the threat of hurricanes. When Florida was first becoming settled there were many attempts by settlers to make the area more hospitable. Most of these attempts failed. It was after two devastating hurricanes (1926 and 1928) that the Federal government had the US Army Corps of Engineers create a system of canals, levies, and dikes to further development of that area. They diverted much of the normal southward flow of water eastward. This allowed 1.3 million acres to be developed. It also left 2 million acres for the Everglades National Park and water conservation areas. 1 million acres was left for agricultural use (Everglades Agricultural

The Proterozoic Westboro Formation (ca. 800 Ma), composed of massive quartzites and interbedded schists, is interpreted as a passive margin assemblage deposited on Avalon before the microcontinent rifted from Gondwana. The Westboro experienced various pulses of deformation and metamorphism during the Proterozoic. Of notable interest are 1-to-3-meter wide, N-NE striking, shallow dipping mylonitic zones exposed in and around the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, MA. At one location blocks of eroded mylonite are contained in a Westboro debrite. A possible interpretation is that mylonites exposed along a rift-basin border fault were eroded and incorporated upper Westboro through mass gravity transport.

Thesis: The confederate navy was strong because of their ships called raiders, the most powerful of which was the Alabama.

In addition to early exploration there is a lot of history in the nature of Florida. On Juan Ponce de Leon’s first voyage in 1513, he decided to call Florida “Pascua Florida”, which is also known as the feast of flowers. He named Florida after this feast because when he took his first look at the landscape he was overwhelmed with beautiful flowers. Florida has a relatively warm and sunny climate and Florida is also home to over 1,700 rivers, streams, and creeks (“Florida Vol. 1”). A major water feature in Florida that dates back to 6,000 years ago is Lake Okeechobee which means, “big water.” It was a major water and food source to the natives that called Florida their home. Many years ago there were no waterways coming to or from the lake,

Winds blow slower in Florida compared to the equator. This is because Florida winds only blow 930 mph, and it is because of the Coriolis effect (slower speed = slower wind).

The location of the first national park known for its impressive landscape,native animals, plants, and environment is located in the southern tip of Florida. The Florida Everglades is known for the animals and how they preserve the Everglades. The Florida everglades is the, “largest subtropical wetlands ecosystems” in North America ( Here are 20 Facts About Florida’s Everglades).

Florida is Spanish for “Land of the Flowers”. This state is bordered by the Gulf Of Mexico, Alabama, Georgia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States. The climate varies from subtropical in the north and tropical in the south. The coastline is approximately 1,350 miles long. Due to Florida’s location along the coast, it is a main target for severe tropical storms. Homeowners insurance rates are expensive in Florida. This is because the state has been hit the most by hurricanes and tropical storms than any other state in the US. Florida is also a victim of tornadoes. The state average for a home policy is an estimated $1,952.

Rarely do the geologic processes of the earth make major news headlines, but oftentimes when they do, it is because a catastrophic event has occurred and has seized public attention. This was unfortunately the case in 2013, when Florida native Jeff Bush became the victim of a tragic geologic event that left many Americans wondering if they were truly ever standing on “solid ground” (Sinkhole Swallows Florida Man). Bush, and a large portion of his suburban home, was swallowed up by a sudden sinkhole as his brother looked on in horror, trying in vain to rescue him as he was forced deeper underground. This sinkhole developed as a result of the dissolution of limestone, which is prevalent under much of Florida’s soil, and the

Due to constantly changing water levels, ecosystems like the Everglades can be very unpredictable places. Since the 1800s, people have tried to control the Everglades to prevent flooding (Blake). Large canals were built to send the water into the ocean and away from the Everglades. The land along the canals dried up and became more

Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Shenandoah National Park provides some wonderful views and scenery including views of the Shenandoah River, the valley, lush greenery, and areas of wilderness. Around 40 percent of the land here has been designated as wilderness and is therefore protected. One of the things that draws many people to this park is the Skyline Drive, which runs through the whole length of the park and is now known as a National Scenic Byway. This is a wonderful scenic drive that enables you to enjoy breathtaking surroundings. Millions of people head here each year, particularly in the fall when the scenery is particularly beautiful

Nearly as large as the state of New Jersey, the Everglades used to measure about 6,000 square miles (Bucks, 1998). The Everglades was a complex wetland consisting of a mosaic of ecosystems. The heart of the Everglades was a slow moving body of water with a span of one hundred twenty miles long and forty miles wide with an average depth of six inches to two feet of water (Lauber,1973). This broad shallow, often called the "river of grass," was covered in a blanket of saw grass (not actually a grass but a sedge) that slowly drained the water from its main source, Lake Okeechobee, all the way to the southernmost tip of the state and into the Florida Bay. Shaped much like a saucer, when full Lake Okeechobee would send its overflow spilling into the shallows of the Everglades river. This natural filling process, along with the wet season's rains, is what fed the flow of the Everglades and the underlying aquifers for centuries.

The Piedmont is located between the Coastal Plain and the Mountain regions, in the middle region of the state. The origins of Piedmont are French, meaning “foot of the mountain”, because it’s located at the base of the Appalachians Mountains. From the western Coastal Plane to the mountains, the elevations range from about 300 feet to near 1,500 feet (Seaman 2006). The fall line, or fault zone, lies between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. The rivers that flow along the fault line are formed from shoals, low waterfalls and rapids. As the rivers flow from the Piedmont to the coastal Plain the rocks become younger and softer. The streams below the fall line are usually lethargic and smooth-flowing. The streams above the fall line are gravelly and shallow, making boating difficult. As for the land, the Piedmont is called a plateau because it is high and mostly flat. Most geologist separate the Piedmont into two different areas because the rock suites are so different. The eastern part, known as the Carolina Slate Belt and then the western part, known as the Inner piedmont. My main area of focus will be the Carolina Slate Belt, with attention to the ancient

The collision of Rodinia(800-750Ma) with the Congo continent which known as the Pan-African Event, was the reason behind breakup of Rodinia. As a result of this, Rodinia rifted into (East Gondwana, Cathyaisa and Cimmeria) in the north and (Laurentia, Amazonia-NW Africa, Baltica and Siberia) in the south. While the Panthalassic Ocean opened. After the next 150Ma, south Rodinia rotated across the South Pole. At the same time north Rodinia rotated to the North Pole. In the pan- Africa event the three continents the Congo continent, North and south Rodinia was collided to form Pannotia (Gretter Gondwanaland) (figure2). According to (Powell, 1995; Dalziel, 1997), that pannotie formed of “exterior “Ocean floor Mozambique Ocean. (Murphy and Nace,

It is believed that the Fundy Basin got its name due to being ironically located just south of the Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault system in Nova Scotia and beneath the infamous Bay of Fundy (Wade, 1996). This basin, in particular, is considered one of the ‘failed-rifts’ of the “half-graben” formed by the mid - late Triassic break up of Pangea. The Fundy Basin is a sediment-filled, proto-oceanic rift basin located along the margin of the Atlantic coast of

In Florida, patch reefs can be as close as one hundred meters to the shore. Ancient limestone reefs have occupied the Florida peninsula intermittently over the past 150 million years (Discover, 1997). Florida's present coral reefs came into existence 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, when sea levels rose following the Wisconsin Ice Age. The reefs in the Florida Keys are part of the third largest barrier reef system (360 square kilometers from Miami to the Dry Tortugas).