![]() The Southern Atlantic Coastal Strip subprovince, including the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, consists of Pleistocene (Ice Age) Miami Limestone, a marine limestone covered by thin sheets of quartz sand. Southern Atlantic Coastal Strip Subprovince Pine rocklands, also called pinelands, commonly occur along the relatively higher elevations of sandy limestone that form the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. However, human interference in the ecosystem in the form of water-management practices has drained large parts of the Everglades and resulted in severe losses of peat in some areas. Most natural fires that burn in the Everglades occur during the spring, typically coinciding with the end of the winter dry season when water levels are at their lowest and average daily temperatures are quickly rising. If left undisturbed over long periods of time, increasingly thick layers of peat accumulate until the surface is able to dry sufficiently to allow either decay or fire. Abundant precipitation in south Florida during the summer rainy season causes flooding of vast low-lying areas, which prevents oxygen in the air from touching soils and allows the organic material to transform into peat. Without oxygen, microorganisms cannot decompose plant material as fast as it accumulates. Accumulation of peat requires anaerobic conditions, more commonly known as a lack of oxygen. Peat that is fossilized turns into coal, and like coal, peat will burn. Peat derived from sawgrass is typically dark brown to black in color, the darkness a result of frequent, hot fires that burn during the winter dry season. The color of peat depends on its plant source. Peat is composed of the organic remains of dead plants. Peat soil is a product of long-hydroperiod (long-term flooding) wetlands and typically occurs in areas of deeper bedrock. The darkness of sawgrass peat results from the ash left behind from frequent, hot fires that burn during the winter dry season. Thus, people have forever altered the once-steady, slow flow of freshwater through the Everglades, also known as the "River of Grass." Raised roadbeds, built from the spoils of canal construction, have dammed the natural, low relief, slow moving sheetflow of water from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Canals, ditches, dams, and levees were built to drain swamps for agriculture, oil and gas exploration, and urban development. From the late 1800s, human population has steadily increased in south Florida. During the summer rainy season, freshwater overflowed the south shore of Lake Okeechobee and flowed about 100 miles, dropping only about 12 to 14 feet in elevation, to reach its southern terminus in Florida Bay. Prior to development in south Florida, water flowing through the Greater Everglades slowly trickled south down to the sea from the Okeechobee Basin subprovince in central Florida. Everglades National Park is to the south. To the southeast and east are State of Florida Water Conservation Areas. The large blue circular area is Lake Okeechobee and the red area south of the lake is agricultural. Satellite image of central and south Florida acquired during the late 1980s.
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