Fossil beach

A fossil beach is an ancient beach which is preserved in fossil form due to a change in sea level or a shift in elevation which causes the beach to become an elevated terrace.

Fossil beaches may be discovered where a limestone quarry or strip mining operation is present. For example, Miami has numerous fossil beaches which have been exposed by limestone mining. A famous example is the Pinecrest beds — a fossil-bearing rock formation found in the south of the city which is a segment of a much larger geological formation — the Tamiami Formation.