Avon Park Formation

Avon Park Formation
Stratigraphic range: Eocene
Type Geological formation
Sub-units None
Underlies Ocala Limestone (in part)
Lithology
Primary Grainstone, packstone, wackestone
Other Mudstone
Location
Region Central Florida
Country  United States
Extent Citrus and Levy County
Type section
Named for Avon Park, Florida
Named by Applin & Applin 1944
The Avon Park Formation on the crest of the Ocala Platform.

The Avon Park Formation is a Middle Eocene geologic formation and is the oldest exposed sediments in Florida, United States.

Age

Period: Paleogene
Epoch: Middle Eocene~55.8 to 33.9 mya, calculates to a period of 21.9 million years
Faunal stage: Clarkforkian through early Chadronian

Location

The Avon Park formation is located on the crest of the Ocala Platform in Citrus County with three distinct outcroppings. Levy County has one outcropping near the county line with Citrus County.

Composition

The Avon Park Formation consists of cream to light-brown or tan, poorly hardened to very hard, grainstone, packstone and wackestone, with rare mudstone. Fossils found throughout but not densely. These limestones are interbedded with vuggy dolostones which are soft to very hard and tan to brown, very fine to medium crystalline structure.

The Avon Park Formation, as with many formations, is part of the Floridan Aquifer system. Parts of the Avon Park Formation comprise important, subregional confining units within that system.

Fossils

The fossils are in molds and casts and include:

References

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