Paleontology in Florida

The location of the state of Florida

Paleontology in Florida refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the
U.S. state of Florida. Florida has a very rich fossil record
spanning from the Eocene to recent times. Florida fossils
Reconstruction of Basilosaurus
are often very well preserved.[1]
The oldest known fossils in Florida date back to the
Eocene. At this time Florida was covered in a sea home
to a variety of marine invertebrates and the primitive
whales Basilosaurus and Pontogenous. During the later
Miocene Florida was exposed as dry land again due to
geologic uplift and mountain building. In the Florida
Keys, however, coral reefs were forming. The marine environments of Pliocene Florida were home to creatures
like dugongs, porpoises, sharks, and whales. On land,
camels, dogs, horses, relatives of modern elephants, saber
toothed cats, and tapirs inhabited the state. The period
of time best documented in the fossil record of Florida is
the Pleistocene epoch. In fact, Florida is the best source
of Pleistocene mammals in the world. Among them
were short-faced bears, saber-toothed cats, glyptodonts,
mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, and wolves.

changing Mesozoic environment. During the Cretaceous

the Florida peninsula was much wider due to regions
now submerged as continental shelf being exposed to the
air. Later into the Cretaceous northern Florida was covered by rising seas connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the
Atlantic. This passage of water was called the Suwannee
Straits.[1]
A shallow sea grew to cover most of the state during the Tertiary. Clams, echinoderms, and gastropods
lived here.[3] Cenozoic limestone formed in such environments is common in Florida and rich in fossils.
The oldest fossil-bearing geologic deposits in Florida are
of Eocene age.[1] During the Eocene, primitive whales
like Basilosaurus and Pontogenous swam over Florida.
Other inhabitants included large numbers of shelled invertebrates, sharks, and sirenians.[5] Oligocene fossils in
Florida provide evidence for a diverse terrestrial fauna.[5]
During the early Miocene uplift and mountain building
lled in the Suwannee Strait. At this point coral reefs
were forming in the Florida Keys.[1] The Thomas Farm
Quarry is the richest source of Miocene mammal fossils in the eastern US.[1] During the ensuing Pliocene,
Florida was home to amphibians, bears, a variety of birds,
camelids, crocodilians, deer, dogs, dugongs, at least six
genera of horses, peccaries, porpoises, relatives of modern elephants, rays, saber toothed cats, seals, sharks,
tapirs, turtles, and whales. The remains of all these
creatures have been found in a region of Polk County
called Bone Valley.[5] Late Tertiary vertebrate fossils

Prehistory

Florida has a very rich fossil record.[2] Its geologic history is also complex. The rock underlying Florida was
originally part of Gondwana and did not become part of
North America until the Permian, when Pangaea formed.
During the Mesozoic Pangaea began to divide again and
Florida was left attached to North America.[3] However,
no dinosaur fossils are known from the state.[4] In fact
no fossils are known from surface deposits older than the
Eocene.[1] Nevertheless, the geologic record contributes
to sciences ability to reconstruct the history of Floridas
1

8 FOOTNOTES

are known from southern Florida. during these animals lifetimes the southern 300 kilometers of Florida
was still under water.[6] Late Tertiary sediments of
Gilchrist County preserve badgers, Kodiak bears, camels,
dogs, horses, rhinos and more.[7] Mammoths, mastodons,
sloths, giant beavers, and ungulates were preserved near
Gainesville.[8]
The Pleistocene limestones of the Florida Keys are rich in
fossils.[9] The Pleistocene is the epoch of time best represented in Floridas fossil record.[5] In fact, Floridas Pleistocene sediments are regarded as the best source of Pleistocene fossils in the world, especially for the mammals
of that age.[2] Also, Pleistocene Florida had a greater diversity of terrestrial vertebrates than any other place and
time in North American history.[10] At the time, the local
sea level began to rise and fall along with the amount of
water tied up in the glaciers covering the northern part
of the continent. When the sea would withdraw savannas
formed.[3] Herds of American mastodon and Mammuthus
oridanus browsed and grazes on the local foliage. The
gigantic ground sloth Eremotherium was another contemporary large herbivore. Others included the antelope,
bison, deer, armored glyptodonts, and the modern horse.
These were preyed upon by predators like short-faced
bears, saber-toothed cats, lions, and wolves.[5]

Pierce Brodkorb died in Gainesville on July 18,

1992.
Cesare Emiliani died in Palm Beach Gardens on 20
July 1995

5 Natural history museums

Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville
South Florida Museum, Bradenton

6 Notable clubs and associations

Bone Valley Fossil Society[13]
Florida Fossil Hunters[13]
Florida Paleontological Society[13]
Fossil Club of Miami[13]
Southwest Florida Fossil Club[13]
Tampa Bay Fossil Club[13]

History

In 1931, a farmer uncovered some bones while plowing his eld. He thought he had stumbled on a Native
American graveyard. However, the bones turned out to
be fossils and were bought by the University of Florida.
The prehistoric creatures whose remains were preserved
here include a large dog-like bear, two dierent kinds
of camels, several dierent species of horse, and a piglike animal.[11] In 1963 several new Miocene fossil sites
were discovered. One was found in the far northern region of the state, near its border with Georgia. Another
was found near Ocala and a third discovery occurred in
Hernando County. The Hernando County site preserved
the remains of animals like alligators, members of the dog
family, oreodonts, rhinoceroses, and tapirs.[12]

7 Events
Fossil Fair[14]

8 Footnotes
[1] Murray (1974); Florida, page 119.
[2] Murray (1974); Florida, page 118.
[3] Portell, Hulbert, Springer, and Scotchmoor (2005); Paleontology and geology.
[4] Brown (2008); Florida: A Great Place to Find Fossils,
page 14.
[5] Murray (1974); Florida, page 121.

Protected areas
Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

Notable paleontologist

4.1

Deaths

Walter Auenberg died in Gainesville on January

17, 2004 at age 75.

[6] Picconi (2003); Ancient Seascapes of the Coastal Plain:

Muddy, oxygen-rich environments & Silty-sandy environments preserved as gray shale, page 99.
[7] Picconi (2003); Terrestrial Environments: Intertidal areas, rivers, lakes, land preserved as sand, silt, clay, page
100.
[8] Picconi (2003); Ice Age environments recorded by unconsolidated sediment, page 101.
[9] Picconi (2003); Ancient Seascapes of the Coastal Plain:
Clear, shallow environments preserved as limestone,
page 99.

[10] Murray (1974); Florida, pages 118-119.

[11] Murray (1974); Florida, pages 121-122.
[12] Murray (1974); Florida, page 122.
[13] Garcia and Miller (1998); Appendix C: Major Fossil
Clubs, page 198.
[14] Garcia and Miller (1998); Appendix B: Major Fossil
Shows, page 196.

References
Brown, R.C. (2008). Floridas Fossils: Guide to
Location, Identication, and Enjoyment (third ed.).
Pineapple Press. ISBN 1-56164-409-9.
Garcia; Frank A. Garcia; Donald S. Miller (1998).
Discovering Fossils. Stackpole Books. p. 212. ISBN
0811728005.
Murray, Marian. 1974. Hunting for Fossils: A
Guide to Finding and Collecting Fossils in All 50
States. Collier Books. 348 pp.
Picconi, J. E. 2003. The Teacher-Friendly Guide to
the Geology of the Southeastern U.S. Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, NY.
Portell, Roger, Richard Hulbert, Dale Springer,
Judy Scotchmoor. June 29, 2005. "Florida, US.
The Paleontology Portal. Accessed September 21,
2012.
Renz, Mark (1999). FOSSILING IN FLORIDA: A
Guide for Diggers and Divers (Third ed.). University
Press of Florida. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-8130-16771.
Renz, Mark (2005). Giants in the Storm (First ed.).
PaleoPress. p. 263. ISBN 0-9719477-2-4.
Renz, Mark (2006). MEGALODON: Hunting the
Hunter (Third ed.). PaleoPress. p. 161. ISBN 9780-9719477-0-2.

10

External links

Geologic units in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Florida Fossil Hunters

11

11
11.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Paleontology in Florida Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology_in_Florida?oldid=680261434 Contributors: Tim!,

TDogg310, Hmains, Bazonka, Abyssal, R'n'B, Cbl62, Invertzoo, The Bushranger, Ulric1313, DPL bot, Mark O. Renz, Fafnir1, Monkbot,
Waters.Justin and Anonymous: 3

11.2

Images

File:Abyssal_Brachiopod_00148.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Abyssal_Brachiopod_00148.jpg

License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Myself
File:Basilosaurus.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Basilosaurus.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work by Pavel Riha (see also the paleo-gallery by Pavel Riha) Original artist: Pavel Riha = user Pavel.Riha.CB (e-mail)
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Florida.svg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Flag_of_Florida.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: SVG based in this image Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img
alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png
1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050' data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Map_of_USA_FL.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Map_of_USA_FL.svg License: CC BY 2.0
Contributors: own work by uploader, based on Image:Map of USA without state names.svg Original artist: This version: en:User:Huebi

11.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0