Sotavento Region is one of the regions of Veracruz , Mexico .
122-472: Sotavento Region lies on the southern Gulf Coastal Plain . Sotavento means leeward, and the region lies in the rain shadow of the coastal Sierra de Chiconquiaco , which makes it drier than the rest of Veracruz' coastal lowlands to the north and south. The Veracruz dry forests ecoregion covers much of the region. It is bounded on the northeast by the Gulf of Mexico , on the east and south by Papaloapan Region , on
244-488: A "dry season" (winter) which runs from November through April, and a "wet season" (summer) which runs from May through October. About 70% of the annual rainfall in south Florida occurs in the wet season – often as brief but intense tropical downpours. The dry season sees little rainfall and dew points and humidity are often quite low. The dry season can be severe at times, as wildfires and water restrictions are often in place. The annual range of temperatures in south Florida and
366-477: A fairly constant length is maintained. The floods of the Mississippi usually occur in spring or summer. Owing to the great size of the drainage basin, it seldom happens that the three upper tributaries are simultaneously flooded. It is a serious problem for the lower river if two of the large tributaries flood at the same time. In this case, the lower river will rise to 30, 40 or even 50 feet (15 m). The fall of
488-491: A hardwood hammock as larger trees overtake the slash pines. The understory shrubs in pine rocklands are the fire-resistant saw palmetto ( Serenoa repens ), cabbage palm ( Sabal palmetto ), and West Indian lilac ( Tetrazygia bicolor ). The most diverse group of plants in the pine community are the herbs, of which there are two dozen species. These plants contain tubers and other mechanisms that allow them to sprout quickly after being charred. Prior to urban development of
610-460: A massive wetland ecosystem. Although the region appears flat, weathering of the limestone created slight valleys and plateaus in some areas. These plateaus rise and fall only a few inches, but on the subtle South Florida topography these small variations affect both the flow of water and the types of vegetation that can take hold. The underlying bedrock or limestone of the Everglades basin affects
732-539: A narrow, deep channel characteristic of most rivers. The vertical gradient from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay is about 2 inches (5.1 cm) per mile, creating an almost 60-mile (97 km) wide expanse of river that travels about half a mile (0.8 km) a day. This slow movement of a broad, shallow river is known as sheetflow , and gives the Everglades its nickname, River of Grass. Water leaving Lake Okeechobee may require months or years to reach its final destination, Florida Bay. The sheetflow travels so slowly that water
854-505: A part in the disappearance of pine forests in the area, as natural fires were put out and pine rocklands transitioned into hardwood hammocks. Prescribed fires occur in Everglades National Park in pine rocklands every three to seven years. Cypress swamps can be found throughout the Everglades, but the largest covers most of Collier County . The Big Cypress Swamp is located to the west of the sawgrass prairies and sloughs, and it
976-513: A resistant Cretaceous limestone. This dips gently seaward with its scalloped inland-facing escarpment overlooking a denuded central prairie region of irregular structure and form. Its gentle coastward slope of 16 ft (4.9 m) per mile (3 m/km) is dissected by many branching consequent streams. In its southernpart as it approaches the Colorado river, the escarpment is dissected into a belt of discontinuous hills. The western cross timbers follow
1098-654: A rise in elevation along the eastern coast of Florida, called the Eastern Coastal Ridge, that was formed as waves compressed ooids into a single formation. Along the western border of the Big Cypress Swamp is the Immokolee Ridge (or Immokolee Rise), a slight rise of compressed sand that divides the runoff between the Caloosahatchee River and The Big Cypress. This slight rise in elevation on both sides of
1220-647: A sandy belt along the inner base of the ragged escarpment of Grand Prairie. The eastern cross timbers follow another sandy belt in the lowland between the eastern slope of Grand Prairie and the pale western escarpment of the immediately eastward and lower Black Prairie escarpment. This escarpment is supported at an altitude of 700 ft (210 m) or less by a chalk formation, which gives an infacing slope some 200 ft (61 m) in height. Its gently undulating or rolling seaward slope of 2 or 3 ft per mile (500 mm/km), covered with marly strata and rich black soil, determines an important cotton district. Then comes
1342-468: A single grain of sand or shell fragment. The other facies, which underlies the eastern lower Everglades (in Miami-Dade County and part of Monroe County) consists of fossilized bryozoan organisms. The unique structure was some of the first material used in housing in early 20th-century South Florida. The composition of this sedimentary formation affects the hydrology, plant life, and wildlife above it:
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#17328632070871464-714: A wetter landscape; large animals became extinct in Florida, and the Paleo-Indians slowly adapted and became the Archaic peoples . They conformed to the environmental changes, and created many tools with the various resources available. During the Late Archaic period, the climate became wetter again, and approximately 3000 BCE the rise of water tables allowed an increase in population and cultural activity. Florida Indians developed into three distinct but similar cultures that were named for
1586-478: A year, and major hurricanes about once every ten years. Between 1871 and 1981, 138 tropical cyclones struck directly over or close to the Everglades. Strong winds from these storms disperse plant seeds and replenish mangrove forests, coral reefs, and other ecosystems. Dramatic fluctuations in precipitation are characteristic of the South Florida climate. Droughts , floods , and tropical cyclones are part of
1708-504: Is a westward extension of the Atlantic Coastal Plain around the Gulf of Mexico . It is only the lower, seaward part of this region that deserves the name of plain, for there alone is the surface unbroken by hills or valleys. The inner part, initially a plain, has been maturely dissected into an elaborate complex of hills and valleys, usually of increasing altitude and relief as one passes inland. The Gulf Plain features not found in
1830-429: Is commonly called "The Big Cypress". The name refers to its area rather than the height or diameter of the trees; at its most conservative estimate, the swamp measures 1,200 square miles (3,100 km ), but the hydrologic boundary of The Big Cypress can be calculated at over 2,400 square miles (6,200 km ). Most of The Big Cypress sits atop a bedrock covered by a thinner layer of limestone. The limestone underneath
1952-497: Is considered to have low to moderate stress, but the region's economic capacity and land-use patterns signal trends toward a human-dominated stress on water resources. Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida , comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm . The system begins near Orlando with
2074-403: Is fed by the extensive Kissimmee , Caloosahatchee , Miami , Myakka , and Peace Rivers in central Florida. The Kissimmee River is a broad floodplain that empties directly into Lake Okeechobee, which at 730 square miles (1,900 km ) with an average depth of 9 feet (2.7 m), is a vast but shallow lake. Soil deposits in the Everglades basin indicate that peat is deposited where the land
2196-443: Is flooded consistently throughout the year. Calcium deposits are left behind when flooding is shorter. The deposits occur in areas where water rises and falls depending on rainfall, as opposed to water being stored in the rock from one year to the next. Calcium deposits are present where more limestone is exposed. The area from Orlando to the tip of the Florida peninsula was at one point a single drainage unit. When rainfall exceeded
2318-529: Is found in Alabama and the adjacent part of Mississippi . The plain is here about 150 mi (240 km) wide. The basal formation is chiefly a weak limestone, which has been stripped from its original Alabama innermost extension and worn down to a flat inner lowland of rich black soil, thus gaining the name of the black belt. The lowland is enclosed by an upland or escarpment , known as Chunnenuggee Ridge , sustained by partly consolidated sandy strata . However,
2440-616: Is less likely to erode the limestone to form solution holes —smaller versions of sinkholes that do not intersect with the water table. In this formation the beds are generally impermeable. Underneath the metropolitan areas of Palm Beach County is the Anastasia Formation, composed of shelly limestone, coquina , and sand representing a former mangrove or salt marsh. The Anastasia Formation is much more permeable and filled with pocks and solution holes. The Fort Thompson and Anastasia Formations, and Miami Limestone and (x), were formed during
2562-448: Is more calcitic in composition. Initial attempts at developing agriculture near Lake Okeechobee were successful, but the nutrients in the peat were rapidly removed. In a process called soil subsidence , oxidation of peat causes loss of volume. Bacteria decompose dead sawgrass slowly underwater without oxygen. When the water was drained in the 1920s and bacteria interacted with oxygen, an aerobic reaction occurred. Microorganisms degraded
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#17328632070872684-530: Is much smaller than the Mississippi, its delta front is rounded by seashore effects. In front of the Brazos and the Colorado, the largest of the Texan rivers, the coast-line is very gently bowed forward as if by delta growth. The sea touches the mainland in a nearly straight shore line. Nearly all the rest of the coast is fringed by off-shore reefs or barrier islands , built up by waves from the very shallow sea bottom. Due to
2806-569: Is typically stored from one wet season to the next in the porous limestone substrate. The ebb and flow of water has shaped the land and every ecosystem in South Florida throughout the Everglades' estimated 5,000 years of existence. The motion of water defines plant communities and how animals adapt to their habitats and food sources. The climate of South Florida is located across the broad transition zone between subtropical and tropical climates ( Koppen Aw , Am and Cfa). Like most regions with this climate type, there are two basic seasons –
2928-460: The Cretaceous Period , most of Florida remained a tropical sea floor of varying depths. The peninsula has been covered by seawater at least seven times since the bedrock formed. Fluctuating sea levels compressed numerous layers of calcium carbonate , sand, and shells. The resulting permeable limestone formations that developed between 25 million and 70 million years ago created
3050-547: The Floridan Aquifer , which serves as the main source of fresh water for the northern portion of Florida. However, this aquifer lies beneath thousands of feet of impermeable sedimentary rock from Lake Okeechobee to the southern tip of the peninsula. Five geologic formations form the surface of the southern portion of Florida: the Tamiami Formation , Caloosahatchee Formation , Anastasia Formation , Miami Limestone , and
3172-663: The Fort Thompson Formation . The Tamiami Formation is a compression of highly permeable light-colored fossiliferous sands and pockets of quartz , 150 feet (46 m) thick. It is named for the Tamiami Trail that follows the upper bedrock of the Big Cypress Swamp, and underlies the southern portion of the Everglades. Between the Tamiami Formation and Lake Okeechobee is the Caloosahatchee Formation, named for
3294-461: The Kissimmee River , which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee . Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades experiences a wide range of weather patterns, from frequent flooding in
3416-485: The Pleistocene approximately 17,000 years ago, the runoff of water from Lake Okeechobee slowed and created the vast marshland that is now known as the Everglades. Slower runoff also created an accumulation of almost 18 feet (5.5 m) of peat in the area. The presence of such peat deposits, dated to about 5,000 years ago, is evidence that widespread flooding had occurred by then. The consistent Everglades flooding
3538-483: The Ramsar Convention designated the Everglades a Wetland Area of Global Importance. The construction of a large airport 6 miles (10 km) north of Everglades National Park was blocked when an environmental study found that it would severely damage the South Florida ecosystem. With heightened awareness and appreciation of the region, restoration began in the 1980s with the removal of a canal that had straightened
3660-689: The Sangamonian interglacial period. The geologic formations that have the most influence on the Everglades are the Miami Limestone and the Fort Thompson Formation. The Miami Limestone has two facies . The Miami Oolite facies, which underlies the Atlantic Coastal Ridge from southern Palm Beach County to southern Miami-Dade County, is made up of ooids : tiny formations of egg-shaped concentric shells and calcium carbonate, formed around
3782-740: The Seminole Tribe of Florida . People who kept more traditional ways had settlements along the Tamiami Trail and tended to speak the Mikasuki language . They later were federally recognized in 1962 as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida . As metropolitan areas in South Florida began to grow, the two groups were closely associated with the Everglades. They struggled to maintain privacy while serving as tourist attractions. They earned money by wrestling alligators and selling craftworks. As of 2008 ,
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3904-836: The Yucatán Peninsula on the Bay of Campeche . The Gulf Coastal Plain's southern boundary is the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. On the north, it extends to the Ouachita Highlands of the Interior Low Plateaus and the southern Appalachian Mountains . Its northernmost extent is along the Mississippi embayment (Mississippi Alluvial Valley) as far north as
4026-408: The hydroperiod , or how long an area within the region stays flooded throughout the year. Longer hydroperiods are possible in areas that were submerged beneath seawater for longer periods of time, while the geology of Florida was forming. More water is held within the porous ooids and limestone than older types of rock that spent more time above sea level. A hydroperiod of ten months or more fosters
4148-508: The "Glades" has emerged as a distinct vernacular region of Florida. It comprises the interior areas and southernmost Gulf Coast of South Florida , largely corresponding to the Everglades itself. It is one of the most sparsely populated areas of the state. The geology of South Florida, together with a warm, wet, subtropical/tropical climate, provides conditions well-suited for a large marshland ecosystem. Layers of porous and permeable limestone create water-bearing rock and soil that affect
4270-541: The Appalachian fold and crystalline belts. In the embayment of the coastal plain some low escarpment-like belts of hills with associated strips of lowlands suggest the features of a belted coastal plain. The hilly belt or dissected escarpment determined by the Grand Gulf formation in western Mississippi is the most distinct. Important salt deposits occur in the coastal plain strata near the coast. The most striking feature of
4392-736: The Appalachian plateau. The Ozarks and Ouachitas make up the U.S. Interior Highlands , the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains . As the coastal plain turns westward toward Texas , it borders the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma and the Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma. The Ouachitas and the Arbuckles may be considered an analog of and possible extension of
4514-467: The Atlantic coastal plain are: A broad, low crustal arch extends southward at the junction of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. The emerged half of the arch, constitutes the visible lowland peninsula of Florida. The submerged half extends westward under the shallow Florida overlapping waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The northern part of the peninsula is composed largely of a weak limestone . Here, much of
4636-557: The Big Cypress contains quartz , which creates sandy soil that hosts a variety of vegetation different from what is found in other areas of the Everglades. The basin for The Big Cypress receives on average 55 inches (140 cm) of water in the wet season. Although The Big Cypress is the largest growth of cypress swamps in South Florida, cypress swamps can be found near the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and between Lake Okeechobee and
4758-570: The Colorado river, the dissected escarpment of the Grand Prairie passes southward changing to a more nearly horizontal structure into the dissected Edwards plateau. The Edwards plateau is referred to later as part of the Great Plains. The plateau terminates in a maturely dissected fault scarp approximately 300 or 400 feet (120 m) in height as the northern boundary of the Rio Grande embayment. From
4880-571: The Colorado to the Rio Grande, the Black Prairie, the timber belt and the Coast Prairie merge in a vast plain, little differentiated, overgrown with chaparral (shrub-like trees, often thorny), widening eastward in the Rio Grande delta and extending southward into Mexico . Although the Coast Prairie is a sea bottom of very modern uplift, it appears already to have suffered a slight movement of depression. Its small rivers all enter embayments. However,
5002-480: The East Texas timber belt, broad in the northeast, narrowing to a point before reaching the Rio Grande, a low and thoroughly dissected escarpment of sandy Eocene strata. This is followed by the Coast Prairie, a very young plain, with a seaward slope of less than 2 ft per mile (400 mm/km), its smooth surface interrupted only by the still more nearly level flood plains of the shallow, consequent river valleys. Near
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5124-449: The Eastern Coastal Ridge receiving the majority of precipitation and the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee receiving about 48 inches (120 cm). Unlike any other wetland system on earth, the Everglades are sustained primarily by the atmosphere. Evapotranspiration – the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere – associated with thunderstorms, is
5246-477: The Eastern flatwoods, as well as in sawgrass marshes. Cypresses are deciduous conifers that are uniquely adapted to thrive in flooded conditions, with buttressed trunks and root projections that protrude out of the water, called "knees". Bald cypress trees grow in formations with the tallest and thickest trunks in the center, rooted in the deepest peat. As the peat thins out, cypresses grow smaller and thinner, giving
5368-517: The Everglades in 1848, but no work of this type was attempted until 1882. Canals were constructed throughout the first half of the 20th century, and spurred the South Florida economy, prompting land development. In 1947, Congress formed the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project , which built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals, levees , and water control devices. The Miami metropolitan area grew substantially at this time and Everglades water
5490-655: The Everglades creates a basin, and forces water that overflows Lake Okeechobee to creep toward the southwest. Under both the Miami Limestone formation and the Fort Thompson limestone lies the Biscayne Aquifer , a surface aquifer that serves as the Miami metropolitan area 's fresh water source. Rainfall and stored water in the Everglades replenish the Biscayne Aquifer directly. With the rise of sea levels that occurred during
5612-591: The Everglades is rather small (less than 20 °F [11 °C]) – ranging from a monthly mean temperature of around 65 °F (18 °C) in January to 83 °F (28 °C) in July. High temperatures in the hot and wet season (summer) typically exceed 90 °F (32 °C) across inland south Florida (although coastal locations are cooled by winds from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean), while high temperatures in
5734-466: The Everglades is the sawgrass marsh. The iconic water and sawgrass combination in the shallow river 100 miles (160 km) long and 60 miles (97 km) wide that spans from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay is often referred to as the "true Everglades" or just "the Glades". Prior to the first drainage attempts in 1905, the sheetflow occupied nearly a third of the lower Florida peninsula. Sawgrass thrives in
5856-493: The Everglades system include the Shark River Slough flowing out to Florida Bay, Lostmans River Slough bordering The Big Cypress, and Taylor Slough in the eastern Everglades. Wet prairies are slightly elevated like sawgrass marshes, but with greater plant diversity. The surface is covered in water only three to seven months of the year, and the water is, on average, shallow at only 4 inches (10 cm) deep. When flooded,
5978-410: The Everglades watershed system. Evapotranspiration is responsible for approximately 70–90 percent of water entering undeveloped wetland regions in the Everglades. Precipitation during the wet season is primarily caused by air mass thunderstorms and the easterly flow out of the subtropical high (Bermuda High). Intense daytime heating of the ground causes the warm moist tropical air to rise, creating
6100-679: The Everglades, but rarely lived in them. Canoe trips to Cuba were also common. Estimated numbers of Calusa at the beginning of the Spanish occupation ranged from 4,000 to 7,000. The society declined in power and population; by 1697 their number was estimated to be about 1,000. In the early 18th century, the Calusa came under attack from the Yamasee to the north. They asked the Spanish for refuge in Cuba, where almost 200 died of illness. Soon they were relocated again to
6222-496: The Everglades. Much of the coast and the inner estuaries are built of mangroves; there is no border between the coastal marshes and the bay. Thus the marine ecosystems in Florida Bay are considered to be a part of the Everglades watershed and one of the ecosystems connected to and affected by the Everglades as a whole. More than 800 square miles (2,100 km ) of Florida Bay is protected by Everglades National Park , representing
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#17328632070876344-789: The Florida Keys. Second in power and number to the Calusa in South Florida were the Tequesta . They occupied the southeastern portion of the lower peninsula in modern-day Dade and Broward counties. Like the Calusa, the Tequesta societies centered on the mouths of rivers. Their main village was probably on the Miami River or Little River. Spanish depictions of the Tequesta state that they were greatly feared by sailors, who suspected them of torturing and killing survivors of shipwrecks. With an increasing European presence in south Florida, Native Americans from
6466-492: The Keys and other areas began increasing their trips to Cuba. Official permission for the immigration of Native Americans from the Florida Keys was granted by Cuban officials in 1704. Spanish priests attempted to set up missions in 1743, but noted that the Tequesta were under assault from a neighboring tribe. When only 30 members were left, they were removed to Havana. A British surveyor in 1770 described multiple deserted villages in
6588-598: The Kissimmee River. However, development and sustainability concerns have remained pertinent in the region. The deterioration of the Everglades, including poor water quality in Lake Okeechobee , was linked to the diminishing quality of life in South Florida's urban areas. In 2000 the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was approved by Congress to combat these problems, which at that time
6710-481: The Mississippi valley is taken to include a large central part of the Mississippi drainage basin . The valley floor is covered with a floodplain of fine silt, having a southward slope of only half a foot to a mile (100 mm/km). The length of the river itself, from the Ohio mouth to the Gulf is about 1,060 miles (1,710 km) due to its windings. Its mean fall is about 3 inches per mile (50 mm/km). On account of
6832-541: The Seminole Tribe of Florida had five reservations, and the lands of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians were collectively considered a sixth reservation. The two tribes have each developed casino gaming on some of their properties to generate revenue for support, services and economic development. The military penetration of southern Florida offered the opportunity to map a poorly understood and largely unknown part of
6954-481: The Seminole in the Everglades numbered no more than 325. They made a living by hunting and trading with white settlers, and raised domesticated animals. The Seminole made their villages in hardwood hammocks or pinelands, had diets of hominy and coontie roots, fish, turtles, venison, and small game. Their villages were not large, due to the limited size of the hammocks. Between the end of the last Seminole War and 1930,
7076-604: The Seminole, and became known as the Black Seminoles . The groups acted as allies. In 1817, Andrew Jackson invaded Florida to hasten its annexation to the United States, in what became known as the First Seminole War . After Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, conflicts between settlers and the Seminole increased as the former tried to acquire lands. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842, and afterward,
7198-460: The South Florida region, pine rocklands covered approximately 161,660 acres (654.2 km ) in Miami-Dade County . Within Everglades National Park, 19,840 acres (80.3 km ) of pine forests are protected, but outside the park, 1,780 acres (7.2 km ) of pine communities remained as of 1990, averaging 12.1 acres (49,000 m ) in area. The misunderstanding of the role of fire also played
7320-624: The US forcibly removed about 3,000 Seminole and 800 Black Seminole to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), west of the Mississippi River. Many others died in the war. Conflict broke out again in the Third Seminole War from 1855 to 1859, when a few hundred Seminole fought off US forces from the swamps of the Everglades. The US finally decided to leave them alone, as they could not dislodge them even after this protracted and expensive warfare. By 1913,
7442-472: The afternoon thundershowers typical of tropical climates. 2:00 pm is the mean time of daily thundershowers across South Florida and the Everglades. Late in the wet season (August and September), precipitation levels reach their highest levels as tropical depressions and lows add to daily rainfall. Occasionally, tropical lows can become severe tropical cyclones and cause significant damage when they make landfall across south Florida. Tropical storms average one
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#17328632070877564-657: The algae formations and microscopic plankton. Female sea turtles return annually to nest on the shore, and manatees spend the winter months in the warmer water of the bay. Sea grasses also serve to stabilize the sea beds and protect shorelines from erosion by absorbing energy from waves. Humans arrived in the Florida peninsula approximately 15,000 years ago. Paleo-Indians came to Florida probably following large game that included giant sloths , saber-toothed cats , and spectacled bears . They found an arid landscape that supported plants and animals adapted for desert conditions. However, 6,500 years ago, climate changes brought
7686-506: The area "River Glades". The name "Everglades" first appeared on a map in 1823, although it was also spelled as "Ever Glades" as late as 1851. The Seminole call it Pahokee , meaning "Grassy Water". The region was labeled " Pa-hai-okee " on a U.S. military map from 1839, although it had earlier been called "Ever Glades" throughout the Second Seminole War . A 2007 survey by geographers Ary J. Lamme and Raymond K. Oldakowski found that
7808-466: The basin of the Red River of Louisiana being about half as large. The Mississippi River drains an area of about one-third of the United States. The head of the coastal plain embayment is near the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi. It flows southward for 560 miles (900 km) through the semi-consolidated strata of the plain. The river has eroded a valley about 40 to 50 miles (64 to 80 km) wide enclosed by bluffs one or two hundred feet high in
7930-415: The bodies of water near where they were located: Okeechobee , Caloosahatchee , and Glades . From the Glades peoples, two major nations emerged in the area: the Calusa and the Tequesta . The Calusa was the largest and most powerful nation in South Florida. It controlled fifty villages located on Florida's west coast, around Lake Okeechobee, and on the Florida Keys . Most Calusa villages were located at
8052-587: The calcitic composition of the marl. Sloughs , or free-flowing channels of water, develop in between sawgrass prairies. Sloughs are about 3 feet (0.91 m) deeper than sawgrass marshes, and may stay flooded for at least 11 months out of the year and sometimes multiple years in a row. Aquatic animals such as turtles, alligators, snakes, and fish thrive in sloughs; they usually feed on aquatic invertebrates. Submerged and floating plants grow here, such as bladderwort ( Utricularia ), waterlily ( Nymphaeaceae ), and spatterdock ( Nuphar lutea ). Major sloughs in
8174-422: The capacity of Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River floodplain, it spilled over and flowed in a southwestern direction to empty into Florida Bay . Prior to urban and agricultural development in Florida, the Everglades began at the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee and flowed for approximately 100 miles (160 km), emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The limestone shelf is wide and slightly angled instead of having
8296-408: The climate, weather, and hydrology of South Florida. The properties of the rock underneath the Everglades can be explained by the geologic history of the state. The crust underneath Florida was at one point part of the African region of the supercontinent Gondwana . About 300 million years ago, North America merged with Africa, connecting Florida with North America. Volcanic activity centered on
8418-401: The dry season the fire may be fed by organic peat and burn deeply, destroying root systems. Fires are confined by existing water and rainfall. It takes approximately 225 years for one foot (.30 m) of peat to develop, but in some locations the peat is less dense than it should be for the 5,000 years of the Everglades' existence. Scientists indicate fire as the cause; it is also cited as
8540-630: The dry season. Alligator holes are integral to the survival of aquatic invertebrates, turtles, fish, small mammals, and birds during extended drought periods. The alligators then feed upon some of the animals that come to the hole. Small islands of trees growing on land raised between 1 foot (0.30 m) and 3 feet (0.91 m) above sloughs and prairies are called tropical hardwood hammocks . They may range from one (4,000 m ) to ten acres (40,000 m ) in area, and appear in freshwater sloughs, sawgrass prairies, or pineland. Hammocks are slightly elevated on limestone plateaus risen several inches above
8662-653: The dry winter season average from 70 to 79 °F (21 to 26 °C). Frost and freeze are rare across south Florida and the Everglades; annually coastal cities like Miami and Naples report zero days with frost, although a few times each decade low temperatures may fall between 30 and 40 °F (−1 and 4 °C) across South Florida. The plant hardiness zones are 10a north with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 30 to 35 °F (−1 to +2 °C), and 10b south with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 35 to 40 °F (2 to 4 °C). Annual rainfall averages approximately 62 inches (160 cm), with
8784-463: The eastern side of Florida covered the prevalent sedimentary rock with igneous rock . Continental rifting began to separate North America from Gondwana about 180 million years ago. When Florida was part of Africa, it was initially above water, but during the cooler Jurassic Period , the Florida Platform became a shallow marine environment in which sedimentary rocks were deposited. Through
8906-468: The embayment is the broad valley which the Mississippi has eroded across it. The small proportion of total water volume supplied from the great Missouri River basin is due to the light precipitation in that region. The lower Mississippi has no large tributaries from the lower east, but two important ones come from the west. The Mississippi Arkansas drainage area being a little less than the Ohio River and
9028-468: The entire area of the coastal plain. Most of the plain is treeless prairie, but the sandier belts are forested. Two of them are known as cross timbers, because their trend is transverse to the general course of the main consequent rivers. An inland extension from the coastal plain in north-central Texas leads to a large escarpment known as Grand Prairie (not structurally included in the coastal plain), upheld at altitudes of 1,200 or 1,300 ft (400 m) by
9150-519: The farthest-reaching roots, trapping sediments that help build coastlines after and between storms. All three types of trees absorb the energy of waves and storm surges . Everglades mangroves also serve as nurseries for crustaceans and fish, and rookeries for birds. The region supports Tortugas pink shrimp ( Farfantepenaeus duorarum ) and stone crab ( Menippe mercenaria ) industries; between 80 and 90 percent of commercially harvested crustacean species in Florida's salt waters are born or spend time near
9272-412: The fastest part of the river is worn away. Any chance irregularity is exaggerated, and in time a series of large serpentines or meanders is developed, the most-symmetrical examples at present being those near Greenville, Mississippi . The growth of the meanders tends to give the river continually increasing length. This tendency is counteracted by the sudden occurrence of cut-offs from time to time, so that
9394-618: The following two centuries. The Seminole , formed from mostly Creek people who had been warring to the North, assimilated other peoples and created a new culture after being forced from northern Florida into the Everglades during the Seminole Wars of the early 19th century. After adapting to the region, they were able to resist removal by the United States Army. Migrants to the region who wanted to develop plantations first proposed draining
9516-409: The formation of a remarkable delta, leaving less aggraded areas as shallow lakes (Lake Pontchartrain on the east, and Grand Lake on the west of the river). The ordinary triangular form of deltas, due to the smoothing of the delta front by sea action, is here wanting, because of the weakness of sea action in comparison with the strength of the current in each of the four distributaries or passes into which
9638-426: The frequency of fire help to create, maintain, or replace the ecosystems in the Everglades. Water is the dominant force in the Everglades, shaping the land, vegetation, and animal life in South Florida. Starting at the last glacial maximum , 21,000 years ago, continental ice sheets retreated and sea levels rose. This submerged portions of the Florida peninsula and caused the water table to rise. Fresh water saturated
9760-426: The growth of sawgrass, whereas a shorter hydroperiod of six months or less promotes beds of periphyton , a growth of algae and other microscopic organisms. There are only two types of soil in the Everglades, peat and marl . Where there are longer hydroperiods, peat builds up over hundreds or thousands of years due to many generations of decaying plant matter. Where periphyton grows, the soil develops into marl, which
9882-447: The hammocks very difficult for people to penetrate, though small mammals, reptiles and amphibians find these islands an ideal habitat. Water in sloughs flows around the islands, creating moats . Although some ecosystems are maintained and promoted by fire, hammocks may take decades or centuries to recover. The moats around the hammocks protect the trees. The trees are limited in height by weather factors such as frost, lightning, and wind;
10004-446: The key mechanism by which water leaves the region. During a year unaffected by drought, the rate may reach 40 inches (100 cm) a year. When droughts take place, the rate may peak at over 50 inches (130 cm), and exceed the amount of rainfall. As water leaves an area through evaporation from groundwater or from plant matter, activated primarily by solar energy, it is then moved by wind patterns to other areas that border or flow into
10126-407: The larger rivers seem to have counteracted the encroachment of the sea on the land by a sufficiently active delta building with a resulting forward growth of the land into the sea. The Mississippi has already been mentioned as rapidly building forward its digitate delta . The Rio Grande , next in size, has built its delta about 50 miles (80 km) forward from the general coastline. Since this river
10248-500: The largest body of water in the park boundaries. There are approximately 100 keys in Florida Bay, many of which are mangrove forests. The fresh water coming into Florida Bay from the Everglades creates perfect conditions for vast beds of turtle grass and algae formations that are the foundation for animal life in the bay. Sea turtles and manatees eat the grass, while invertebrate animals, such as worms, clams and other mollusks eat
10370-425: The limestone that underlies the Everglades, eroding some of it away, and created springs and sinkholes . The abundance of fresh water allowed new vegetation to take root, and formed convective thunderstorms over the land through evaporation. As rain continued to fall, the slightly acidic rainwater dissolved the limestone. As limestone wore away, the groundwater came into contact with the land surface and created
10492-506: The lower elevation Gulf Coastal Plain supports wintering waterfowl. A global satellite study by German and USA scientists spanning the last decade indicates groundwater resources are shrinking due to overuse causing regional water security uncertainty in a changing climate. Surface water quality is declining due to increasing population, depleted streams, and land subsidence along certain coastlines. The Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Aquifer
10614-562: The lowland drainage is underground forming many sinkholes (swallowholes). Many small lakes in the lowland appear to owe their basins to the solution of the limestones. Valuable phosphate deposits occur in certain districts. The southern part of the state includes the Everglades , a large area of low, flat, marshy land, overgrown with tall reedy grass. The eastern coast is fringed by long-stretching sand reefs , enclosing lagoons so narrow and continuous that they are popularly called rivers. At
10736-513: The majority of trees in hammocks grow no higher than 55 feet (17 m). Some of the driest land in the Everglades is pineland (also called pine rockland) ecosystem, located in the highest part of the Everglades with little to no hydroperiod. Some floors, however, may have flooded solution holes or puddles for a few months at a time. The most significant feature of the pineland is the single species of South Florida slash pine ( Pinus elliottii ). Pineland communities require fire to maintain them, and
10858-526: The marl can support a variety of water plants. Solution holes , or deep pits where the limestone has worn away, may remain flooded even when the prairies are dry, and they support aquatic invertebrates such as crayfish and snails, and larval amphibians which feed young wading birds. These regions tend to border between sloughs and sawgrass marshes. Alligators have created a niche in wet prairies. With their claws and snouts they dig at low spots and create ponds free of vegetation that remain submerged throughout
10980-420: The mouths of rivers or on key islands. The Calusa were hunter-gatherers who lived on small game, fish, turtles, alligators, shellfish, and various plants. Most of their tools were made of bone or teeth, although sharpened reeds were also effective for hunting or war. Calusa weapons consisted of bows and arrows, atlatls , and spears. Canoes were used for transportation, and South Florida tribes often canoed through
11102-545: The national boundary as a joint effect of embayment up the valley of the Rio Grande and of the seaward advance of this river's rounded delta front. These several changes take place in a distance of about 500 miles (800 km). It includes a region of over 100,000 square miles (260,000 km ), less than half of the large state of Texas. A belted arrangement of reliefs and soils, resulting from differential erosion on strata of unlike composition and resistance, characterizes almost
11224-558: The natural water system in the Everglades. The Everglades are a complex system of interdependent ecosystems. Marjory Stoneman Douglas described the area as a "River of Grass" in 1947, though that metaphor represents only a portion of the system. The area recognized as the Everglades, prior to drainage, was a web of marshes and prairies 4,000 square miles (10,000 km ) in size. Borders between ecosystems are subtle or imperceptible. These systems shift, grow and shrink, die, or reappear within years or decades. Geologic factors, climate, and
11346-401: The northern part. These bluffs decrease towards the south, but with local increase of height associated with a decrease in flood plain breadth on the eastern side where the Grand Gulf escarpment is traversed. This valley in the coastal plain, with the much narrower rock-walled valley of the upper river in the prairie states, is the true valley of the Mississippi River. However, in popular usage,
11468-521: The ocean. Mangrove trees are well adapted to the transitional zone of brackish water where fresh and salt water meet. The estuarine ecosystem of the Ten Thousand Islands , which is comprised almost completely of mangrove forests, covers almost 200,000 acres (810 km ). In the wet season fresh water pours out into Florida Bay, and sawgrass begins to grow closer to the coastline. In the dry season, and particularly in extended periods of drought,
11590-443: The peat into carbon dioxide and water. Some of the peat was burned by settlers to clear the land. Some homes built in the areas of early farms had to have their foundations moved to stilts as the peat deteriorated; other areas lost approximately 8 feet (2.4 m) of soil depth. Fire is an important element in the natural maintenance of the Everglades. The majority of fires are caused by lightning strikes from thunderstorms during
11712-480: The people lived in relative isolation from the majority culture. The construction of the Tamiami Trail , beginning in 1928 and spanning the region from Tampa to Miami, altered their ways of life. Some began to work in local farms, ranches, and souvenir stands. Some of the people who interacted more with European Americans began to move to reservations in the 1940s. These were their bases for reorganizing their government and they became federally recognized in 1957 as
11834-407: The rapid deposition of sediment near the main channel at times of overflow, the flood plain, as is normally the case on mature valley floors, has a lateral slope of as much as 5, 10, or even 12 ft (3.7 m) in the first mile from the river, but this soon decreases to a less amount. Thus just a short distance from the river, the flood plain is often swampy, unless its surface is there aggraded by
11956-410: The reason for the black color of Everglades muck. Layers of charcoal have been detected in the peat in portions of the Everglades that indicate the region endured severe fires for years at a time, although this trend seems to have abated since the last occurrence in 940 BC . Several ecosystems are present in the Everglades, and boundaries between them are subtle or absent. The primary feature of
12078-403: The region where the Tequesta lived. Common descriptions of Native Americans in Florida by 1820 used only the term "Seminoles". Following the demise of the Calusa and Tequesta, Native Americans in southern Florida were referred to as "Spanish Indians" in the 1740s, probably due to their friendlier relations with Spain. The Creek invaded the Florida peninsula; they conquered and assimilated what
12200-608: The river divides near its mouth. After constriction from the Mississippi embayment to 250 miles (400 km) in western Louisiana, the coastal plain continues southwestward with this breadth until it narrows to about 130 miles (210 km) in southern Texas near the crossing of the Colorado River (Texas Colorado River, not the Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon), but it again widens to 300 miles (480 km) at
12322-402: The river is significantly steepened and its velocity is accelerated down stream from the point of highest rise. Conversely, the fall and the velocity are both diminished up stream from the same point. The load of silt carried down stream by the river finally, after many halts on the way, reaches the waters of the Gulf. There, the decrease of velocity aided by the salinity of the sea water, causes
12444-540: The river over it. Much less permeable, this formation is highly calcitic and is composed of sandy shell marl, clay, and sand. Water underneath the Caloosahatchee Formation is typically very mineralized. Both the Tamiami and Caloosahatchee Formations developed during the Pliocene Epoch . Surrounding the southern part of Lake Okeechobee is the Fort Thompson Formation, made of dense, hard limestone, shells, and sand. Rain water
12566-410: The rock is especially porous and stores water during the dry season in the Everglades, and its chemical composition determines the vegetation prevalent in the region. The Miami Oolite facies also acts to impede flow of water from the Everglades to the ocean between Fort Lauderdale and Coot Bay (near Cape Sable ). The metropolitan areas of Miami , Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach are located on
12688-667: The salt water creeps inland into the coastal prairie, an ecosystem that buffers the freshwater marshes by absorbing sea water. Mangrove trees begin to grow in fresh water ecosystems when the salt water goes far enough inland. There are three species of trees that are considered mangroves: red ( Rhizophora mangle ), black ( Avicennia germinans ), and white ( Laguncularia racemosa ), although all are from different families. All grow in oxygen-poor soil, can survive drastic water level changes, and are tolerant of salt, brackish, and fresh water. All three mangrove species are integral to coastline protection during severe storms. Red mangroves have
12810-572: The slowly moving water, but may die in unusually deep floods if oxygen is unable to reach its roots. It is particularly vulnerable immediately after a fire. The hydroperiod for the marsh is at least nine months, and can last longer. Where sawgrass grows densely, few animals or other plants live, although alligators choose these locations for nesting. Where there is more room, periphyton grows. Periphyton supports larval insects and amphibians, which in turn are consumed as food by birds, fish, and reptiles. It also absorbs calcium from water, which adds to
12932-459: The small forest the appearance of a dome from the outside. They also grow in strands, slightly elevated on a ridge of limestone bordered on either side by sloughs. Other hardwood trees can be found in cypress domes, such as red maple , swamp bay , and pop ash . If cypresses are removed, the hardwoods take over, and the ecosystem is recategorized as a mixed swamp forest. Eventually the water from Lake Okeechobee and The Big Cypress makes its way to
13054-518: The southern end of the peninsula is a series of coral islands , known as the Florida Keys . They appear to be due to the forward growth of corals and other lime-secreting organisms towards the strong current of the Gulf Stream from which they obtain their food. The western coast has fewer, shorter off-shore reefs. Much of it is of minutely irregular outline. A typical example of a belted coastal plain
13176-557: The southern tip of Illinois . To the east the Gulf coastal plain meets the South Atlantic Coastal Plain in southern Georgia along the basin divide between the rivers flowing into the Gulf and those flowing to the Atlantic and south along the Apalachicola River through the Florida panhandle. The flat to rolling topography is broken by many streams, river riparian areas, and marsh wetlands. The Gulf Coastal Plain
13298-468: The southern two-thirds of Alabama , over most of Mississippi , western Tennessee and Kentucky , extreme southern Illinois , the Missouri Bootheel , eastern and southern Arkansas , all of Louisiana , the southeast corner of Oklahoma , and easternmost Texas in the United States. It continues along the Gulf in northeastern and eastern Mexico, through Tamaulipas and Veracruz to Tabasco and
13420-420: The surrounding peat, or they may grow on land that has been unharmed by deep peat fires. Hardwood hammocks exhibit a mixture of subtropical and hardwood trees, such as Southern live oak ( Quercus virginiana ), gumbo limbo ( Bursera simaruba ), royal palm ( Roystonea ), and bustic ( Dipholis salicifolia ) that grow in very dense clumps. Near the base, sharp saw palmettos ( Serenoa repens ) flourish, making
13542-415: The trees have several adaptations that simultaneously promote and resist fire. The sandy floor of the pine forest is covered with dry pine needles that are highly flammable. South Florida slash pines are insulated by their bark to protect them from heat. Fire eliminates competing vegetation on the forest floor , and opens pine cones to germinate seeds. A period without significant fire can turn pineland into
13664-551: The trend of the piedmont belt, the ridges and valleys, and the plateau of the Appalachians . All of which are terminated by dipping gently beneath the unconformable cover of the coastal plain strata. In the same way the western side of the embayment, trending south and southwest, passes along the lower southeastern side of the dissected Ozark plateau of southern Missouri and northern and central Arkansas . The southern Missouri and northern Arkansas Ozark plateau resembles in many ways
13786-408: The tributary streams. For this reason Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi rank immediately after Florida in swamp area. The great river receives an abundant load of silt from its tributaries, and takes up and lays down silt from its own bed and banks with every change of velocity. The swiftest current follows the outer side of every significant curve in the channel. Thus the concave bank on the side of
13908-526: The upland is not continuous, but a maturely dissected escarpment. It has a relatively rapid descent toward the inner lowland, and a very gradual descent to the coast prairies, which become very low, flat and marshy before dipping under the Gulf waters, where they are generally fringed by off-shore reefs. The coastal plain extends 500 miles (800 km) inland on the axis of the Mississippi embayment . Its inner border affords admirable examples of topographical discordance where it sweeps northwestward square across
14030-648: The weak tides , the barrier islands continue in long unbroken stretches between the few inlets. The northern region uplands are dominated by pine , originally longleaf and slash in the south and shortleaf mixed with hardwoods in the north. These are wildfire -maintained systems that give way to loblolly pine and hardwoods in damper areas and bottomland hardwood forest in extensive lowland drainages. The southern region has tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and western Gulf coastal grasslands . They include large habitats of freshwater wetlands , salt marshes , and coastal mangrove swamps . Much of
14152-672: The west by Mountains Region , and on the north by Capital Region . This article about a location in the Mexican state of Veracruz is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico . This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle , southwest Georgia ,
14274-424: The wet season to drought in the dry season. Throughout the 20th century, the Everglades suffered significant loss of habitat and environmental degradation . Human habitation in the southern portion of the Florida peninsula dates to 15,000 years ago. Before European colonization, the region was dominated by the native Calusa and Tequesta tribes. With Spanish colonization, both tribes declined gradually during
14396-429: The wet season. Their effects are largely superficial, and serve to foster specific plant growth: sawgrass will burn above water, but the roots are preserved underneath. Fire in the sawgrass marshes serves to keep out larger bushes and trees, and releases nutrients from decaying plant matter more efficiently than decomposition . Whereas in the wet season, dead plant matter and the tips of grasses and trees are burned, in
14518-468: Was considered the most expensive and comprehensive environmental restoration attempt in history; however, implementation faced political complications. The first written record of the Everglades was on Spanish maps made by cartographers who had not seen the land. They named the unknown area between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida Laguna del Espíritu Santo ("Lake of the Holy Spirit"). The area
14640-425: Was diverted to cities. Portions of the Everglades were transformed into farmland, where the primary crop was sugarcane . Approximately 50 percent of the original Everglades has been developed as agricultural or urban areas. Following this period of rapid development and environmental degradation, the ecosystem began to receive notable attention from conservation groups in the 1970s. Internationally, UNESCO and
14762-457: Was featured on maps for decades without having been explored. Writer James Grant Forbes stated in 1811, "The Indians represent [the Southern points] as impenetrable; and the [British] surveyors, wreckers, and coasters, had not the means of exploring beyond the borders of the sea coast, and the mouths of rivers". British surveyor John Gerard de Brahm , who mapped the coast of Florida in 1773, called
14884-552: Was left of pre-Columbian societies into the Creek Confederacy. They were joined by remnant Indian groups and formed the Seminole, a new tribe, by ethnogenesis . The Seminole originally settled in the northern portion of the territory. In addition, free blacks and fugitive slaves made their way to Florida, where Spain had promised slaves freedom and arms if they converted to Catholicism and pledged loyalty to Spain. These African Americans gradually created communities near those of
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