Avon Park Formation
The Avon Park Formation is a Middle Eocene geologic formation and is the oldest exposed sediments in Florida, United States.
| Avon Park Formation Stratigraphic range: Eocene | |
|---|---|
 Packstone from a dredge pile by the Cross Florida Barge Canal | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Sub-units | None |
| Underlies | Ocala Limestone (in part) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Grainstone, packstone, wackestone |
| Other | Mudstone |
| Location | |
| Region | Central Florida |
| Country |  |
| Extent | Citrus and Levy County |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Avon Park, Florida |
| Named by | Applin & Applin 1944 |
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 dolomites 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:
- Mollusks
- Foraminifers
- Echinoids
- Algae
- Carbonized plants