Avon Park Formation

Avon Park Formation - Middle Eocene carbonate sediments of peninsular Florida, as originally described by Applin and Applin (1944), were subdivided, in ascending order, into the Lake City Limestone and the Avon Park Limestone. Miller (1986) recommended combining the Lake City Limestone with the Avon Park Limestone and, due to the common occurrence of dolostone, referred to the unit as the Avon Park Formation. Carbonates of the Avon Park Formation are the oldest sediments exposed in the state. The Avon Park Formation crops out in a limited area in west-central peninsular Florida in Levy and Citrus Counties on the crest of the Ocala Platform. The Avon Park Formation consists of cream to light-brown or tan, poorly indurated to well indurated, variably fossiliferous, limestone (grainstone, packstone and wackestone, with rare mudstone). These limestones are interbedded with tan to brown, very poorly indurated to well indurated, very fine to medium crystalline, fossiliferous (molds and casts), vuggy dolostones. The fossils present include mollusks, foraminifers, echinoids, algae and carbonized plant remains. Molds and casts of gypsum crystals occur locally. The Avon Park Formation is part of the Floridan aquifer system (FAS). Parts of the Avon Park Formation comprise important, subregional confining units within the FAS (Miller, 1986).