Panama City Sand 2

Gray-black fine to medium grain sand with organic matter interspersed.
Location: across from Carousel

Again shell fragments are abundant. During the Pleistocene period the sea level was much lower than it is today. Deposits of lignite and peat were formed from swamps and forest located in areas that are now offshore and along the coast. Holocene age sugar white sands on the beach overlay these deposits. These organic rich deposits are layered within sand beds.

The dredge and fill project in Panama City hit these organic rich sand beds in the western end of Bay County. The same deposits are found in eastern Walton County. Evidence of these offshore deposits are indicated by the exposure of peat beds along the beach in Seagrove after storms.