Expanded Florida reef development during the mid-Pliocene warm period

Abstract

The coral fauna of the Tamiami Formation documents a northern expansion of reef development along the Florida Peninsula during the mid-Pliocene warm period (MPWP). Radiometric dating (U-Pb) of Solenastrea bournoni produced an age of 2.99 ± 0.11 Ma, constraining reef development to the MPWP and the peak of Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnover; subsequent to the final closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS) but prior to major Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG). Coral faunal analyses are based on a total of 1,614 coral specimens collected along a 165 km stretch of the west Florida coast, and included rarefaction and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). A total of 60 coral species occur within the Tamiami Formation, with faunal assemblages ranging from 42 to 87% extinct taxa. The Tamiami collections can be be split into a southern "reef" assemblage with high diversity of stenotopic taxa and a northern "non-reef" assemblage with lower diversity eurytopic taxa. The southern reef assemblage contains framework buildups of the dominant tropical taxa Stylophora affinis, Orbicella annularis, and Acropora cervicornis. We interpret enhanced west Florida reef development during the middle Pliocene to be a product of more equitable sea surface temperatures, and reduced salinity fluctuations associated with higher sea levels. While mean sea surface temperature estimates based on oxygen isotopic analysis of the coral Solenastrea bournoni (25.3°C) are similar to present day values (26°C), a completely flooded southern Florida Platform in the Pliocene would be less prone to salinity fluctuations associated with coastal runoff and extreme cold-water events during winter storms. While higher latitude range shifts of tropical reef corals associated with current global climate change have been documented elsewhere in the world, we do not foresee the West

Shallow-Water Coral Communities Support the Separation of Marine Ecoregions on the West-Central Florida Gulf Coast

“…Temperature is one of the most important factors affecting WFS coral distributions and ranges as well as a limiting factor for gorgonian and algal cover (Hedgpeth, 1954;Engle and Summers, 1999;Colella et al, 2008;Anderson, 2009;Hale, 2010;Mallinson et al, 2014;Jaap, 2015;Locker et al, 2016;Klaus et al, 2017). The southern WFS is warmer and subjected to less seasonal variability (Engle and Summers, 2000) and studies around Tampa Bay show distinct changes in water movement that latitudinally affect water temperatures (Hine and Locker, 2011;Jaap, 2015;Weisberg et al, 2016).…”

“…Coastal water temperatures on the WFS vary from 18 to 30 • C, but can drop below 10 • C (Mallinson et al, 2014;Locker et al, 2016;Klaus et al, 2017), which can increase stress and cause mortality events (Klaus et al, 2017;Overstreet and Hawkins, 2017).…”

Origin and development of true karst valleys in response to late Holocene sea‐level change, the Transverse Glades of southeast Florida, USA

“…Sea level was at ca 8 m above present during the last interglacial ca 120,000 yr bp inundating the entire platform during deposition of the Miami Limestone strata (Moore, ) although this elevation does not consider the lost elevation of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. There must have been a strong cross‐bank current analogous to the ‘Quick Sands' area (Shinn, Lidz, & Holmes, ) and the mid Pliocene (Klaus, Meeder, McNeill, Woodhead, & Swart, ). Currents were, at least episodically, sufficient to produce cross‐bedded ooid sets 30–80 cm thick west of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and to transport ooids into Collier County (Figure , Sites 6, 8).…”

Early Miocene shallow-water corals from La Guajira, Colombia: Part II, Mussidae–Siderastreidae and Milleporidae

“…Pliocene in Mao Formation, Dominican Republic (Klaus et al, 2008); Quebrada Chocolate Formation, Costa Rica (Budd et al, 1999). Pliocene-early Pleistocene in Tamiani Formation, Florida, USA (Klaus et al, 2017). Late Plioceneearly Pleistocene in La Cruz and Matanzas formations, Cuba Flórez et al-Coral taxonomic characterization, early Miocene, southern Caribbean (Budd et al, 1999).…”