Any interesting reason as to why most of Florida’s Gulf Coast have barrier islands and beaches except for the “big bend”, which is mostly swamp?
And mangroves. Its called natures coast because much of it is covered in nature. Mangroves everywhere. Much of the area on the coast is an actual protected area aside from cedar key (which is surrounded by protected areas).
Mangroves are a literal force of nature.
They filter and clean the water too. When the mangroves are destroyed the ocean coral reefs become barren.
Exactly. And they act as a sea wall in big storms. Great plants. :)
I'm not that knowledgeable about the symbiotic relationship between coral and mangroves, but as a Floridiot I am aware of how awesome mangroves are.
Though, I now live in the mountains of North Carolina. But I will never forget.
https://www.bbcearth.com/news/could-mangroves-help-save-our-planet#
They are an amazing plant. Also I hope to visit Florida some day!
From the article….
The roots of the trees filter the water by trapping sediment, which slows coastal erosion, stabilises the shore, and stops sediment from damaging coral reefs and seagrass meadows.
They really are amazing organisms. Stuff You Should Know did a great podcast episode on mangroves that really opened my eyes to them.
Ooooo I’ll check that out. Thanks
I listened to that everglades episode yesterday!
I'm just glad that the government of Florida is such responsible custodians of the environment. It would be catastrophic if they didn't have a deep respect for the fragility of their ecosystem.
Florida's House Bill 1645 is set to largely eliminate climate change references from state legislation.
They took it literally.
And provide a protected place for fish to lay eggs.
Not even the mangroves will be able to save the coral. We are past the point of no return.
I'm a bit of a mangrove myself thanks 👍
Ripe for development.. mmmmm those sweet sweet plots of land.
The American urge to create new subdevelopments
And those awesome HOAs!
Defund the HOA!
It’s the American Way! Boast about your strong property rights and then pay someone to take them away.
Hell, that's how we got Orlando and south is mfs drive for development
Just make sure you have ear covering on when handling mandrakes
Mangroves were never naturally present that far north in Florida (climate change is making central and northern Florida hospitable to mangroves). The bend is a delta for the Suwannee river which plays a major role in its ecology. The other is the low slope of the continental shelf in that region that produces very low wave energy.
Naturally occurring to Jacksonville and the entire gulf coast to include Texas to Mexico...
I even saw some near tybee island a few weeks ago
Can confirm, "low wave energy" is def the vibe.
Cedar Key is awesome (to me) and so is a bowl of Cedar Key clams and a cold beer.
Beer battered oysters from big deck or steamers for me. :) I see people bare fisting bowls of raw with some hot sauce but wew thats some intestinal fortitude that I am not brave enough for lol!
Most of big bend is salt marshes, cedar key is about as far north as mangroves grow, but the salt marshes start becoming prominent north of Tampa
This is wildly innaccurate. Over the past 10 years mangroves have taken over much of the coast around cedar key and even north.
I like your confidence in being wrong.
Much of the Big Bend region is too cold for the red mangrove, the one everyone instantly recognizes.
Mangroves aren't relegated to the bend. I grew up in Pinellas county and we had Mangroves everywhere.
I believe it.
Yeah probably sea floor depth and naturally sandy sea floor nearby are the biggest part of the difference.
There are natural beaches on the west coast of Florida. But if you see barrier islands it’s a good bet those are also man made to protect a man made beach from being swept away.
Basically all beaches on the south east coast of Florida and the Florida keys are man made.
In this map to my eye all those lines out in the ocean in the pan handle are likely man made barrier islands to protect man made beaches.
There are a few stretches on the southwest coast there but most of those beaches look natural.
Edit: People, most of Florida doesn't have dry land without human intervention. What makes you all think it has pristinely manicured sandy beaches without human alterations to make such a thing possible? https://www.wired.com/2002/02/everglades/ The Army Corps of Engineers has redesigned most of the waterways of the country, it's not that shocking.
But if you see barrier islands it’s a good bet those are also man made to protect a man made beach from being swept away.
This is nonsense. Many of the barrier islands have been augmented and expanded, but for the most part, the barrier islands are natural features that existed long before any development in the area.
I live in this part of the state, we have beaches just not great ones. The barrier islands here ARE 100% naturally here. There may have been some sand added over time but those are natural barrier islands. In the scope of this red zone there are a lot of rivers that deposit sand and silt, a lot a major limestone formation. And it’s not mangroves here but sawgrass. Some of the best fishing for reds, trout and flounder. We ain’t got money for man made islands and there is a lot of development in that area but not a lot of people want to deal with the yellow flies and mosquitoes. For reference check out St George Island, amazing beaches. And Dog Island which has moved a lot if you look at historical maps dating back to the 1800’s. Beautiful place, gators, snakes, and every biting insect included.
The bend formed roughly 6-8,000 years ago when the Apalachicola River delta formed in the west, and another shorter lived river delta formed in the east to create the Apalachicola Bay in the north. The Apalachicola delta continued to grow while the other delta didn't, this formed the western part of the bend. The southern part however is harder to explain. Florida for a good part of its history wasn't connected to the rest of North America. It was part of Africa and rifted with the rest of North America, but it was separated a bit and is called the Florida platform. It had a shallow waterway at the time between it and what is now Georgia called the Suwanee channel, which they think had a pretty strong flow once. At various times all of the Florida platform has been completely submerged, or even higher above sea level than it is today due to the glacial cycle. When it was submerged and warmer than today it formed a lot of carbonate rocks and built up the landmass a bit. This is why there is so much karst geology in the state. It is thought Tampa Bay actually formed because of the erosion and collapse of some of this carbonate rock base there. Anyway, the Florida platform is actually a bit tilted to the west, even though it is the flattest state the platform tilts a bit to the west, underwater to the west there is the Florida escarpment which has a dramatic drop into the abyssal Gulf of Mexico. It drops off quickly and is an elevation difference of something like 10,000 feet. Well, I went off on a bit of a tangent there. So, with the buildup of carbonates and the lowering sea levels Florida eventually became connected above water to North America, the southern part of the peninsula just being wider than the northern part of the peninsula gave the southern or eastern part of the bend its shape. So that's a fairly simplified explanation of Florida's big bend.
Wow. 6,000 years is a geological blink of an eye.
The Mekong Delta is also only about that old.
Bear in mind this is just the modern delta. There likely have been other deltas over time that have come and gone since the formation of the Appalachian mountains. I tried to keep it brief and somewhat simple so I left a lot out really, but another important part of this is the good amount of the sediment which was washing away over time from the Appalachian mountains actually ended up in Florida, not just forming the delta, but this covered up the carbonate rocks, formed earlier in the warm shallow seas, in the rest of the state and is why you have the silica sands and clays you see there today.
The 6-8,000 years is suspiciously similar to the glacial cycle, small river deltas would likely have been formed and eroded over time depending on the different sea levels at different points in the cycle. Larger deltas like the Nile and Ganges deltas, due to the landforms present in their unique areas, would have probably survived these cycles and are much older. The Nile due to the epeirogenic lift that has been occurring over millions of years and the Ganges due to the massive amount of water/sediment coming off of the rising Himalayas.
In Florida there were likely many older deltas that formed in this location from the Apalachicola river channel, rivers of a similar course probably formed not long after the mountains started rising. So at various periods in history since the Appalachian mountains formed there has probably been something of a delta there and at least part of the big bend.
A couple questions*. If answered elsewhere, apologies for my laziness.
Is the process that connected Florida to Georgia the same/similar to India and Southern Asia?
If so, why no mountains at the connection point? Or will there be at some time in the future?
*Hey, I took Geology 101 in college, but the professor was a jagoff. I can graph a stream like a champ, though.
South Asia today was formed from tectonic plate collisions. Actually you could say the connection of Florida to the mainland was sort of the opposite. Florida and North America are on the same tectonic plate, just different high points basically, which is why they call it the Florida platform. Florida was underwater at one point, it sort of was much like the shallow seas which surround the Bahamas today, which are called the Bahama platform by the way but are also on the same tectonic plate. Because the conditions were right at the time it was underwater, Florida formed carbonate rocks which raised the land level. Also as the Appalachian mountains rose, the sediment washed down from it filled in the gap (the Suwanee strait) to connect the two land masses. This along with the changes in sea level are what connected it to the the rest of North America. It's hard to imagine the sheer amount of sediment that eroded from the Appalachian mountains to fill in the Gulf between the two, but the Appalachian mountains were thought to have been taller than the Rocky mountains, maybe even as big as the Himalayas at one time. So to get to their current size a lot of sediment had to be eroded away.
Great! Thank you for taking the time to explain in such detail.
Also as the Appalachian mountains rose, the sediment washed down from it filled in the gap (the Suwanee strait) to connect the two land masses.
Wait, I thought you said that Florida was part of the African side of Pangaea and only joined North America post-rift? So the Appalachians would have already been formed at that point and were no longer rising after the breakup of Pangaea.
I probably could have typed that more clearly, sorry about that. Florida and North America were together with Africa in Gondwana. Florida rifted away with the rest of North America when Gondwana split. So Florida and North America split off from Africa. They are basically two high points or plateaus on the same tectonic plate which were separated by a small gap which was called the Suwanee Strait. It wouldn't make sense for it to have stayed with Africa, it would have had to cross the mid-ocean ridge which is impossible. Sorry I if caused any confusion.
Each response of your makes me feel increasingly ignorant 😂🙏!
Fun fact, the Applacian mountains were at a time as high as the Himalayans.
I enjoyed reading that. Thank you!
If we could watch a time lapse of earth it would look like Florida had a quick sneeze at the end.
But more infectious and virulent than an actual sneeze.
Rivers do work very quickly.
Time flies when you're having fun.
Moving continents and turning islands into penninsulae is the best kind of fun!
10/10 more tangents please.
If you want to see more tan gents, try Palm Beach or Boca.
But can they explain geography?
😂 +100 points
This guy Floridas!
People like you make reddit what it is, thank you for the explanation!
Keep in mind that it could just all be made up. Not saying this particular case is, but just taking a comment with a lot of exposition as 100% truth is really damaging youth (and adults!) all over the world more and more rapidly.
Of course you want to take everything with a grain of salt, but if I was in real life and this person started going on a tangent about something they seemed passionate about, I would listen the same and compare that information later on. Either way its bit more information than I started with and now I can challenge it against stated facts on the matter. Now if I go preach it as fact before comparing is a whole another story.
Definitely always a toss up when sources aren't stated.
It took a week of my marine biology class in FL high school to explain this post. We got to take field trips to the coast and wade around in the muck all day and peep at specimens. Worth it.
Our geology field camp in college was to go to Michigan's upper peninsula. Such a great time.
It’s a required field trip in 4th grade in my district. The school district legit built a facility in the estuary for kids to go fuck around
When I was a kid went every year grades 2-5 but we always went in like Jan/Feb and it was freezing fucking cold and I hated it sooooo much. We had to get in the water fully dressed and catch fish and shit and then take turns changing into our dry clothes in the the bathrooms at the place… sandy ass dripping clothes smelling like swamp have to keep them with you all day.
My daughter has to go next year I will totally let her skip
Please continue to go off on tangents, that was super interesting!
Thanks for sharing this! Fascinating!
Thanks for typing that up. I never knew any of that and it was really interesting.
For those interested in a deep time explanation about the rest of the Gulf Coast and inland features
Woah.
How far out is that drop off down near Ft. Myers?
Geomorphology, fuck ya!
Word.
I was dreading a mention of 1998 toward the end of this and it being shittymorph lol
Those carbonates also cause tons of sinkholes
It's the most biodiverse place east of the Mississippi River. There are thousands of species, many endemic, packed into a couple of Florida counties. It's a worldwide mecca for botanists.
And this is just referring to the human population.
Lol
Hey, methheads are people too! I think. Maybe not.
Hey now, I live here. I just consider myself a unique individual!
😂
Don't tell the Dutch that it's so shallow.
I would love to see those engineers attempt to levy 200 miles of muck sand and oysters when hurricane season comes.
Easy, just dam the Atlantic ocean so there's no water to fuel hurricanes
Sharpie does the job much more easily!
It is indeed. An interesting area which largely follows the borders of Alabama and includes the west Florida panhandle has immense biodiversity. At its latitude it gets abundant sunlight and heat, along with its many freshwater resources and rich soils, the area is a real hotbed of biodiversity, one of the best in the country actually.
I thought that was the great Alabama-tombigbee watershed
It does not. The Mobile River delta is VERY diverse, especially in terms of herpetofauna, amphibians, fish, and some invertebrates, but the Apalachicola Basin has five times the number of plant species that the Delta does, and that puts it way over the top in terms of overall diversity.
Cool
We have an island of angry aids monkeys that can be seen from glass bottomed boats
What now?
Lot to unpack there. And also, do they live underwater somehow (glass bottomed boats)?
Monkeys got released around the Crystal Silver River in Ocala in like the 50s or 70s when they filmed an old Tarzan movie down there. The climate was about the same for the monkeys (macaques?) and there were way fewer natural predators, so their population has been steady. There are/were a couple glass-bottomed boat tours you could take along the river, and often times you'd be able to see the monkeys playing in/around trees and the shore. There are a few trails around there too, so there are many videos on the web of people interacting with them. Most of the time they just want food and will bite you if you get too close. They are also known for being breeding grounds for diseases.
They were originally released around Silver River in the 30s as a tourist attraction. They have since spread and been released in other areas. Many of them have a form of herpes that can be fatal in humans.
Whew…for a moment I thought he was referring to the HOAs around here!
Damn I thought the diseased monkeys were only around ocala
They have herpes, not AIDS.
Silver Springs, Marion County FL
I thought that title went to the mobile river delta?
It does not. The Mobile River delta is VERY diverse, especially in terms of herpetofauna, amphibians, fish, and some invertebrates, but the Apalachicola Basin has five times the number of plant species that the Delta does, and that puts it way over the top in terms of overall diversity.
I wouldn't mind a source comparing the two if you've got it, but regardless, I hope both are protected. There are so few truly wild places left anymore.
Not OP, but interested in the subject now.
This is hard to research. The closest source I've found on greatest biodiversity is from a site called Treehugger.
I'm going to keep searching.
Sorry, but this entire statement is 100% wrong.
In fact, the most biodiversity in North America is the Mobile Bay/Tensaw River Delta. This delta is literally named "North America's Amazon" because it is the most diverse in the North American continent.
It also happens to be east of the Mississippi River.
Please see: https://smea.uw.edu/currents/the-north-american-amazon-a-cradle-of-biodiversity-in-need-of-protection/
https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/mobile-tensaw-delta/
I'm sorry, but no. I'm an Alabamian myself, and I'm super happy that part of the delta has been bought for preservation - I hope it becomes a national park some day, as E.O. Wilson wanted. But it is NOT more biodiverse than the FL panhandle. Your EOA article above uses some misleading language. Note that it says "SOME of the most diverse wildlife..." It also only includes "wildlife," usually a code word for animal species only. But the numbers lower in the article tell a different story. 500 species of plants is...not that many. The few counties surrounding the Apalachicola River, especially the Apalachicola National Forest, Tate's Hell State Forest, etc. have almost 3,000 species of plants. Filtering the Florida Plant Atlas (https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Results.aspx) for Gadsden, Leon, Franklin, Wakulla, and Liberty Counties (the heart of the Apalachicola River Basin and the area of greatest plant diversity) yields 2,866 species of plants.
Wow, I grew up in Wakulla County and I didn’t know this.
Alabama is more diverse than Florida, however has less plant species and less endemism.
https://www.natureserve.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/stateofunions.pdf
Not the Smokies?
No. The Smokies (really the Southern Appalachians including the Smokies, the Blue Ridge, and other associated mountain ranges - there are quite a few) are enormously diverse, it's true. The Tennessee River watershed alone has the highest number of species of fish anywhere outside the Amazon Basin. Also very high diversity of reptiles and amphibians. But the Panhandle (the Apalachicola River Basin especially) has more species of plants than any other place of similar area west of the California Floristic Province, and that puts it over the top in terms of overall diversity.
Cool!
They're referring to plant diversity, not animal diversity
yo mammas house be the most endemic
From what I’ve seen, only the upper part of the red area is usually referred to as “Big Bend”, and the lower half is usually called “Nature Coast” instead
Yea that red area is more springs natural little coves, inlets plenty of people live on it. It isn’t essentially swampy. you’ve gotta go inland about 25 to 30 miles then you’ll hit swamp
Thank you. The news and weather reporting have corrupted our geographical descriptions.
The whole southwest Florida is pretty swampy too
Everglades are not swampy, assuming that is what you are referring to. They are basically a river.
That swamp is full of good fishing and scallops
Shhhh.... don't tell everybody.
100%. Leave my forgotten coast forgotten please. Lol.
Love this. I recently learned of this “lost coast”. There’s like one town. It’s a protected wildlife area. I’ve never really noticed it before. It’s very cool.
Someone who has been here before. Tell me what it’s like. Does the beach just fade into a swamp? What’s the deal?
Pretty much. Bald Point is the last sandy beach around there and then you go across the mouth of the Ochlockonee River and it’s just swamp meets Gulf on the other side
Ochlockonee
Pronounce this for me? Ock-lock-OH-knee?
Awe clock knee
I've lived in the south my entire life, never would've gotten there. Thanks!
Being a native Floridian comes in help sometimes. Very few times but it’s there 🫡
As the other commenter mentioned, Bald Point/Alligator Point is one of the last sandy beaches, but Mashes Sands is across the bay, shortly followed by Shell Point, as well as several others East of St Marks that are “sandy” beaches.
For note, it isn’t a swamp but salt marsh, which ecologically is some of the most biodiverse and important nursery areas for a bunch of saltwater species. Coastal development has depleted a lot of the salt marsh around the state unfortunately, and luckily the state and the feds have it fairly protected through the NWR and WMAs throughout the Big Bend.
It’s trying for an hourglass figure
The areas that say "beaches" are developed land. Tourist traps. The part that says "swamp" is considered the nature coast and is protected land. Not allowed to develop the beaches there
Idk but I went there last year to swim with Manatees and it was 50/50 breathtakingly awesome and horrifying, even if you know your safe. Like smoking too much weed
Horrifying?
You can't willingly touch them and when I went the water was murky, so there's these giant behemoths that come out of nowhere and you can't move/push them or startle them by swimming away quickly. Like I said, you know you're completely safe because they're big fat lovable babies, but they're intimidating as hell in the murk
Needless to say I accidentally rode a couple of them because they surfaced from below me, it was wild
The alligators use manatees as a bait.
Since when?
There is nothing there at all. Nothing. Stay away. Only gators and swamp monkeys. Please don't ruin the last lil bit of old FL
I mean depending on your intentions that's cool. That area of FL is amazing. As long as you enjoy your time, don't leave any trash, and respect the locals I welcome all visitors. We just don't need more rentals, tour companies, or honestly any more people. The reasons people used to love coming here for are being paved over in favor of progress
The beaches are like the cheeks
Florida armpit.
So, it's the armpit's armpit?
Kinda more of the gooch of the wang
Florida: America’s Wang
I think they prefer the Sunshine State
Americas grundle
I would imagine that it's related to why Florida and Georgia have so many caves. The limestone was probably eroding for millenia and eventually collapsed, creating the lowlands where swamps formed.
Totally guessing btw. Just kinda cool to think about those large scale causes and effects.
swamp ass
The pistol grip of America
I lived there for about a year. The beaches and water are dirty. It is the South and Southern people. The beached in yellow are retired yanks.
The beaches of Northwest Florida consist primarily of quartz sand that washed down from the Appalachians via the Apalachicola River. The prevailing current during the ice age deposited it westward.
So I looked up a few things, the soil makeup is more or less similar throughout all of Florida, at least in the northern side so I don’t think it’s erosion due to different soil.
Elevation differences wouldn’t be the soul cause of it either since Florida is flat.
My best guess is the currents in the Gulf of Mexico. After looking at this picture on this webpage it would seem that the currents could be the cause of the carving inward area.
Best to avoid the north side of that bend unless you like marhy shallows and sand flies...
I can say this, living in the same sort of conditions but further west in south east Texas Gulf coast, the fishing is 🔥🔥🔥
We call that the armpit
Gators took a bite out of it and live there now
tallahasee, leon county & the forgotten coast area is some of the most underrated nature. tallahassee’s parks are so beautiful. some feel like jurassic park.
Just come on down to perry and find out /s
Florida crackers
That my friend is the armpit of America.
Time to ride down to Roy’s for some damn good seafood
water innit
Any known history about the Estero bay, Sanibel, naples area?!
shrek lives there and chased all the beach makers away
Hurricane magnet
Beaches love swamp.
There's redfish in them waters
What are the chances it'll separate again? Like, how many nukes would it take?
This is the armpit of Florida.
It’s awesome. I’m moving there.
If you look at it as an armpit, it makes sense.
I think of it as a pocket. Lots of old Florida too
That's the mark left by Bugs Bunny in case he needs to come back and finish the job .....
This just makes me want to play GTAVI even more~
It's a moist armpit
It will all be part of the ocean soon.
Doomsday upon us!
The beaches suck, lots of stinky seaweed. The land is swampy AF and there is nothing at all to see or do there.
Just want to add that the beaches on the suncoast are meticulously maintained by shipping in sand from other parts of the country at tax payers expense.
Noseeums are lousy in the swamp.
Nah
Pretty sure it's one of the only locations a defense contractor owns a surface danger zone over water where live-fire training and exercises occur.
That’s where Eugene and Rusty live.
Armpit stinky
Isn't that swamped area where all of the orange orchard were?
Soon... underwater
It’s Matt Gaetz
Biloxi is man made
Not much, you?
The bend area is the historical deltas of the Swanee river draining the Oke swamp in South Georgia.
There's plenty of swamps in the yellow areas too. Florida is pretty much just one huge swamp. That's why we can't have basements and its so humid everywhere.
Fishing.
I believe it has to do with the very shallow seas bottom extending out miles into the gulf. You don’t get the wave action to deposit sand on the shore. I’m not 100% on that though.