214 
FLORIDA STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
Correlation:—The contemporaneous deposition of coquina and 
oolite suggested by Shaler and accepted by Griswold can not be 
proved from any outcrops seen by the writer, but the contemporan¬ 
eous deposition of the two seems possible. 
KEY LARGO LIMESTONE. 
Synonymy:—The elevated reef that forms the backbone of the 
main chain of the Florida keys from Soldier Key to Bahia Honda has 
been recognized as made up of coralline material by practically all the 
writers who have described the keys in any detail. One of the first 
references is that of Henry Whiting, who called the rock a coralline 
limestone. 1 
The first reference to the keys representing an uplift is that of T. 
A. Conrad. He visited the keys in the winter of 1842, and besides 
correlating the evidences of elevation there with other evidences in 
northern Florida, determined the age of the reef rock as post-Plio- 
cene. 2 
Tuomey visited the keys in 1850 and noticed the large heads of 
coral in the reef rock at Key Vaca, Indian Key, and elsewhere. He 
stated very clearly: “There can be no doubt that this great chain of 
keys is due to the elevation of a vast uneven coral reef whose promi¬ 
nent points rising above the water form the foundation of the keys, the 
sands driven up by the waves having done the rest.” 3 
L. Agassiz and LeConte visited the keys in 1851. Agassiz gave an 
accurate description of the coral rock but positively denied the evi¬ 
dences of elevation seen by Conrad and Tuomey, believing that the 
coral boulders had been thrown up by hurricanes and cemented by 
calcareous sands and mud; the keys having been built up to their pre¬ 
sent elevation above sea level purely by the action of the waves and 
winds; making the rock “sub-aerial, not a marine accumulation.” 4 
This view of the rock above sea level having resulted from the 
cementation of material thrown up by the waves was shared by Hunt 5 
and LeConte. 6 
1 Whiting, Henry. Cursory Remarks on East Florida in 1838; Am. Jour. 
Sci. (1) xxxv, 1838, pp. 47-64. 
2 Conrad, T. A., Observations on the Geology of a Part of the coast of East 
Florida, Am. Jour. Sci. (2) ii, 2846, pp. 36-48. 
3 Tuomey, M. Notice of the Geology of the Florida Keys and of the South¬ 
ern Coast of Florida, Am. Jour. Sci. (2) xi, 1851, pp. 390-394. 
4 Agassiz, Louis. Florida Reefs, Keys, and Coast; U. S. Coast Survey Re¬ 
port for 1851 (Appendix No. 10), 1852, pp. 145-160. 
5 Hunt, E. B. On the Origin Growth, Substructure and Chronology of the 
Florida Reef; U. S. Coast Survey Report, App. No. 25, 1862, pp. 241-248. 
6 LeConte, Joseph. On the Agency of the Gulf-Stream in the Formation of 
the Peninsula of Florida; Am. Asso. Adv. Sci. Proc., 1857, pt. 2, pp. 103-119. 
