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Purpose and Scope of Investigation

During 1950, a series of 43 test wells 30 feet deep were drilled by the United States Corps of Engineers along the western edge of the Everglades from the Tamiami Canal northward to the Caloosahatchee River (see figure 1) . The cores obtained from the wells afford geologic data along a line from the lower Everglades of Dade County, where both the geology and water resources have been investigated, to the Caloosahatchee River area, where the surface geology has been studied.

Figure 1. --Map of southern Florida showing location of test wells and geologic cross sections. [larger image]

This report has been prepared chiefly to record and interpret the information obtained from the test wells. It is one of a series prepared on ground-water investigations by the United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey. When ground-water data become available they will be correlated with the geology of this report and will be presented in a later report on the Glades-Hendry Counties area. A few generalized inferences concerning ground water are made.

The investigation was under the general supervision of A. N. Sayre, Chief, Ground Water Branch, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., and Herman Gunter, Director, Florida Geological Survey, and under the direct supervision of Nevin D. Hoy, District Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey, Miami, Fla.

Acknowledgments

The U. S. Corps of Engineers granted permission to examine cored material from test wells. Garald G . Parker, C. Wythe Cooke, and F. Stearns MacNeil of the U. S. Geological Survey, and R. 0. Vernon of the Florida Geological Survey, assisted in interpreting the geology at the various formation type localities and in identifying fossils.

Previous Investigations

Numerous geological studies have been made in the areas which terminate the line of test wells. The area covered in this report is included in the investigations by Parker and Cooke (1944) who presented geologic descriptions and correlations with a discussion of ground-water resources. In a later paper, Parker (1951) revised the stratigraphic correlations of the formations.