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The structural framework of the Florida peninsula produced an extensive system of coastal, shallow nearshore shelf and platform marine environments which controlled Miocene phosphorite formation, deposition, and accumulation. Microsphorite-intraclast sedimentation was dominant within the inner perimeter belt around the Ocala Upland, and pelletal phosphorite sedimentation in the outer belt, down the depositional slope and offshore from the Ocala Upland. Optimum phosphorite formation took place in the coastal and shallow platform environments. The resulting intraclastic and pelletal phosphate grains were then transported as clastic particles alone and off the shoals, diluted by the associated terrigenous and dolomitic sediment, and deposited in basins on the structural highs, on the flanks of the structures, and in adjacent deeper basinal environments.
