Origins
The ridge originated as a series of sand islands, formed at a time more than a million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. It was once believed that these sand islands formed when sea level was higher than today, but new research has revealed that the Lake Wales Ridge has probably been uplifted due to isostatic rebound of the crust beneath the Florida Platform. The uplift is attributed to the karstification/erosion of the platform, which is reducing the weight on the underlying basement rock, triggering a process similar to post glacial rebound.
During the last ice age the ridge was connected to what is now the southwestern United States by an extension of land which today is submerged beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and is referred to as the Florida Shelf. The now sunken land enabled many southwestern species to migrate to Florida.
Read more about this topic: Lake Wales Ridge
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
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—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)