Classic Exposures of the Anastasia Formation in Martin and Palm Beach Counties, Florida

By

Donald W. Lovejoy

INTRODUCTION

The Anastasia Formation is a Late Pleistocene coquinoid limestone that is exposed at intervals along the coastal zone of Martin and Palm Beach Counties. This guidebook will introduce the reader to the most frequently visited exposures and to the highlights of the area geology. The shoreline of these two counties consists of long barrier islands and sandy beaches, which are separated from the mainland by the Intracoastal Waterway. Exposures of the Anastasia Formation are found along the ocean, on the barrier islands, and in the Intracoastal Waterway.

This guidebook is designed for a one-day field trip involving about 50 people. Rather than visiting all the significant exposures, four stops have been selected to illustrate the main features of the Anastasia Formation and to stimulate discussion of the formation's depositional environment and subsequent history. Included as an appendix to the text is a list of additional stops for those having both time and desire to see some of the lesser known exposures of the formation.

Throughout the trip special emphasis will be placed on depositional features of the formation, such as its lithology, stratification, and fossil contents, as well as post-depositional aspects such as bioturbation, laminated crusts, solution features, lithified infillings, and wave erosion features. Participants in the field trip will be encouraged to speculate about the environment in which the Anastasia might have been deposited and lithified, and what the Anastasia tells us about past sea level changes in the area.

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