Logging an EarthCache requires that visitors undertake an educational task relating to the specific Earth Science at the site. If you don't want to answer the questions, don't log this EarthCache.
While the Florida Plateau was underwater during this period, several parallel lines of reef formed along the southern reaches of its Atlantic edge. They extended in a curving line south and then west from the present Miami area to what are now the Dry Tortugas. When the next ice age arrived with the Wisconsin glaciation (approximately 85,000 to 11,000 years ago), water was pulled into the glaciers and the sea level dropped to about 350 feet lower than it is today. The reefs were left exposed above water, where the coral eroded and formed into the layers of limestone that now make up the bedrock underlying the southern portion of Florida and the lower Keys.
The Florida Keys Coral Reefs have significantly declined since humans first settled the area. In the 1970s, reef degradation accelerated to catastrophic levels. Recent studies (2012) confirm that Reef decline continues to the present day.
Reef decline varies by location – on average, the Conch Republic’s Reefs have lost 90% of their original coral population (in some areas, the loss is over 95%)2. Reef decline is an ongoing and persistent problem. A recent study found an overall decline of 44% of hard coral over just a 12-year period (44% of the already-depleted coral that was there in 1996 was dead in 2008), with some critical reef-building coral species declining by 73%.3
Prior to logging this cache, email the answers to the following:
- How many kinds of coral can you identify on the rocks below? (If you don't know the names, just describe the shapes of coral you see.)
- When you're there, Is it closer to high or low tide? If high tide, are the rocks completly coverd? If low tide, how much of the rocks are exposed?
- What is the approximate hight of the largest rock at Waypoint 2?
- Do you see any similarities between the rocks at Waypoint 1 and Waypoint 2? If so explain?