Paleontological data from Mud Creek Core 1, southern Florida

Vegetational changes from sawgrass marshes to mangrove stands during the lastcentury have been documented previously in a core collected in the mangrove fringe alongTaylor Creek near Florida Bay (Willard and Holmes, 1997). To determine whether thispattern is characteristic of the mangrove fringe as a whole, or whether it represents only alocal effect, additional cores have been collected from sites in the mangrove fringe alongFlorida Bay. The core discussed below was collected at a site along Mud Creek, near JoeBay, approximately 5 km east of the Taylor Creek sites. This core is one of severalcollected at the Mud Creek site and consists of alternating layers of peat and marl. Othercores collected nearby consist of varying amounts of peat and marl, and a more detailedstudy on the geology and sedimentology of the site is underway to understand the localdepositional setting. The core described below, Mud Creek Core 1, was collected in apeat-accumulating site in a stand of dwarf mangroves (