Wyatt,[3] explains the phosphate deposits somewhat differently.
According to him, during the miocene submergence there was deposited
upon the upper eocene limestones, more especially in the cracks and
fissures resulting from their drying up, a soft, finely disintegrated
calcareous sediment or mud. The estuaries formed during this period were
swarming with animal and vegetable life, and from this organic life the
phosphates were formed by decomposition and metamorphism due to the
gases and acids with which the waters were charged.
After the disappearance of the miocene sea there were great disturbances
of the strata. Then followed the pliocene and tertiary periods and
quaternary seas with their deposits and drifts of shells, sands, clays,
marls, bowlders, and other transported materials supervening in an era
when there were great fluctuations of cold and heat.
By reason of these disturbances the masses of the phosphate deposits
which had not been infiltrated in the limestones became broken up and
mingled with the other débris and were thus deposited in various mounds
or depressions. The general result of the forces which have been briefly
outlined, was the formation of bowlders, phosphatic débris, etc. Wyatt
therefore classifies the deposits as follows:
1. Original pockets or cavities in the limestone filled with hard and
soft rock phosphates and débris.
2. Mounds or beaches, rolled up on the elevated points, and chiefly
consisting of huge bowlders of phosphate rock.
3. Drift or disintegrated rock, covering immense areas, chiefly in Polk
and Hillsboro counties, and underlying Peace River and its tributaries.
Darton,[4] ascribes the phosphate beds of Florida to the transformation
of guano. According to this author two processes of decomposition have
taken place. One of these is the more or less complete replacement of
the carbonate by the phosphate of lime. The other is a general
stalactitic coating of phosphatic material. Darton further calls
attention to the relation of the distribution of the phosphate deposits
as affecting the theory of their origin, but does not find any peculiar
significance in the restriction of these deposits to the western ridge
of the Florida peninsula.
As this region evidently constituted a long narrow peninsula during
early miocene time it is a reasonably tentative hypothesis that during
this period guanos were deposited from which was derived the material
for the phosphatization of the limestone either at the same time or soon
after.
Darton closes his paper by saying that the phosphate deposits in Florida
will require careful, detailed geologic exploration before their
relations and history will be fully understood.
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