The Everglades of Southern Florida Continues to Be an Environmental Oasis

Surrounded to the East by Limestone walls and stretching its arm northward to pad at Lake Okeechobee the Everglades cover nearly 4,000 miles of the southern Florida peninsula. Primarily consisting of marshes and sloughs the area is home to a range of environments as well as a rich biodiversity. The true wonder of the everglades however is its age. Only 5,000 years ago the area was vastly different and timidly arid. The unpredictable climate and geologic change has been creating this once in a lifetime oasis that could soon be gone.

First inhabited by the Calusa the area currently known as the Everglades is vastly different from the first time humans discovered it. The barren land experienced very little rain and could support a minimum amount of vegetation (McCally 1999) This led early settlers to make homes on the more giving western banks. While the thought of a dry southern Florida seems impossible the process by which it became submerged is simple.

Due to Florida’s unique bedrock the peninsula has been submerged many times throughout its geologic history. The period of time during which a wetland is covered by water is referred to as a Hydroperiod. These Hydroperiod have occurred several times and presented with a differing ecosystem. Most recently the Everglades were re-submerged to the place where it remains today (Bentsson et al., 2012).

Around 10,000 years ago the sea level rose and saturated much of the Lower Peninsula while raise the groundwater table. Fresh water then began to slowly erode the limestone due to its porous nature. The permeable limestone formations developed between 25 million and 70 million years ago during the Cenozoic time period and made an Aquifer, which serves as a main source of fresh water for...

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