Florida Bay mud

[Ross Hancock]

Here it is, such a great day to be out there, and I am on a goose chase on the internet trying to understand the mud mounds of Fla Bay.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=NuLaiyv-tTgC&pg=PA479

 

The Bay is a factory of islands -- prehistoric continent-making in miniature. It's useful to know the underlying structures of the mud banks and spits. That gray dried quicksand that's all over my boat and everything I own -- it's carbonate skeletons of long-dead algae.

[3isq4hpfb9jwq]

Thanks for the link! I'm not a geologist, but I find this type of stuff facinating. When I was working at Virgin Islands National Park on St. John one of the biologists took me over to the beach near the ferry docks. He showed me the diferent sizes of sand grains and explained that the finer grains were made from calcareous algae. He was also able to find the thread-like structures of this type of algae. I will be coming to Flamingo at the end of the week for a 7-day trip and I will be sifting through some sand! Thanks again!

[toofaraway]

wackestones and packstones!  Interesting read.  Not sure what they were talking about but I got to look at core samples deeper than my push pole!

[Gary M]

If you like that kinda stuff, you would probably like "The archeology of the Everglades".  Its in the Broward County library system and it was written by a couple of profs from FAU... if I remember correctly.  Sorry... I don't remember the authors' names.  It was published pretty recently, so its the latest "guess" at how things came to be. It is quite an eye-opener.  I think you will find it much easier reading than the one above as it is not quite as drenched in technical jargon.  After reading it, I have a whole new perspective on my trips into the 'glades.  My buddies keep bugging me about how I now look at the "dirt" everywhere I go... but they now expect me to educate them once they are done with the jokes!