This fossil shell stood out among the small crushed rocks of a local driveway. It told of life in the distant past when seas were much higher than they are now, and what was to become Florida was mostly under water. Over the eons, oceans have risen and fallen, time and again, hundreds of feet from current sea level.
Sea level is said to have been nearly constant over the past 2,000 years rising minimally perhaps no more than 0.2 mm per year, however, over the 20th century the rate of rise was at around 2 mm per year, ten times faster than before (source: Wikipedia). There is good reason to believe that this rise may continue to accelerate, though some prominent politicians, while spouting their climate concerns, continue to build expensive mansions along the current shore lines. Perhaps they don’t really believe that sea levels will rise fast enough to be “inconvenient” during their lifetimes.
When and if the sea will rise again to the levels that made most of Florida a giant ocean reef remains to be seen by whoever or whatever remains in the future, probably long after we have become a part of the fossil record.
#sealevel #oceans #fossilrecord
Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings 