Most of Collier and eastern Lee Counties emerged during the Miocene Epoch, about fifteen million years ago. Not until the Pleistocene Epoch, slightly more than one million years ago, did the coastal areas from southern Sarasota County to southern Collier County emerge and begin evolving into the coastline known today. Most of Glades and Hendry Counties also emerged during this epoch. The process of emergence and submergence of the Florida peninsula is believed to have been cyclic, occurring throughout known geologic time. The emergence, characteristic of the Miocene and Pleistocene Epochs, was caused principally by declining sea level.
Evidence exists, however, that global sea level has been rising.
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