The Suwannee Limestone is an

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two ages or the lower of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the Priabonian Stage (part of the Eocene) and is followed by the Chattia ...

geologic 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 ...

of exposed

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

s in

North Florida North Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regi ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Description

Suwannee Limestone is found in the peninsula carbonate outcroppings on the northwestern, northeastern and southwestern flanks of the

Ocala Platform The Ocala Platform or Ocala Uplift is a geologic feature, a structural high, and a northwest-trending uplift paralleling the Peninsular Arch along the west coast of Florida. Age Period: Neogene Epoch: Early Late Oligocene through Pliocene Fau ...

. However, Suwannee Limestone is not present on an area known as

Orange Island Orange Island was a rock band based out of the town Clinton, Massachusetts. Orange Island formed in 1996 when cousins Charles Young and Brendan Dickhaut started writing music together and had David Chouinard playing bass guitar. After writing son ...

on the eastern side of the

due to erosion, nondeposition or both. This limestone is present in southeastern

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again ...

, Jefferson,

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757 ...

counties as well as Hamilton along the upper

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset hig ...

basin, and southward into

Suwannee County, Florida Suwannee County is a county located in the north central portion of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,474, up from 41,551 in 2010. Its county seat is Live Oak. Suwannee County was a dry county until August 2011 ...

. Early Oligocene Suwannee Limestone was recognized in the northwestern peninsula by P. F. Huddleston in 1993 as a triple subdivision of Suwannee Limestone, Ellaville Limestone, and Suwannacoochee Dolostone. The Suwannacoochee Dolostone was later officially renamed as the '' Suwannacoochee Dolomite''.

Sedimentology

Suwannee Limestone consists of a white to cream, poorly to well hardened, fossil rich, vuggy to moldic

grainstone Under the Dunham classification (Dunham, 1962) system of limestones, a grainstone is defined as a grain-supported carbonate rock that contains less than 1% mud-grade material. This definition has recently been clarified as ''a carbonate-dominat ...

and

packstone Under the Dunham classification (Dunham, 1962Dunham, R.J. (1962) Classification of carbonate rocks according to depositional texture. In: Classification of Carbonate Rocks (Ed. W.E. Ham), Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Mem., 1, 108–121.) system of limest ...

. The

dolomitized Dolomitization is a geological process by which the carbonate mineral dolomite is formed when magnesium ions replace calcium ions in another carbonate mineral, calcite. It is common for this mineral alteration into dolomite to take place due to e ...

parts of the Suwannee Limestone are gray, tan, light brown to moderate brown, moderately to well indurated (hard), finely to coarsely

crystalline A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

, dolomite with limited occurrences of fossil-bearing beds. Limestone in silicate form is common in Suwannee Limestone.USGS: Geology of Florida
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Stratigraphy

The Suwannee Limestone overlies the Ocala Limestone and forms part of the intermediate confining unit/aquifer system. (USGS)

Fossil content

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 ...

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 *

Bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a ...

ns *

Mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

References

{{reflist Geologic formations of Florida Geologic formations of Georgia (U.S. state) Oligocene Series of North America Rupelian Stage Paleogene Florida Paleogene Georgia (U.S. state) Paleogene stratigraphic units of North America Limestone formations of the United States