Alice Wainwright Park

Stabilized Sand Flat

 

Alice Wainwright Park is just north of the Viscaya Mansion, off Bayshore Drive and S.E. 32nd Road. This Biscayne bayside exposure is an extensive outcrop, approximately 185 meters long, and 2 to 2.5 meters high. The location is highly bioturbated ( Figure 10 ), suggesting a low energy environment. A small section of cross-bedded ooid sand occurs at the base of the outcrop, suggesting high energy deposition.

Numerous Callianassa burrows were observed at the site, as well as a steeply inclined joint , approximately 8 to 10 meters from the south end of the outcrop.

This exposure is a continuation of the Silver Bluff outcrop, which is an easily accessible, public outcrop in the Coconut Grove area. Silver Bluff has been described as a wave-cut bench and is part of a terrace between the Miami River and Coconut Grove. According to Halley and Evans, it is believed that the escarpment was cut a few thousand years after deposition, during a fall in sea level.