Beth Harrison, age 10, of High Point, North Carolina, for her question:

Was Florida really once under water?

In the earth's long history, a million years is but a blink. And a few blinks ago, the sunny peninsula of Florida was indeed buried below the watery seas. Several times during the past, the seas covered much of North America and about 400 million years ago more than half of the continent was under water. But what is now the Florida peninsula remained submerged for many more geological ages.

Meantime, this part of the ocean floor was covered with the limey shells of countless sea creatures and encrusted with corals. As the earth changed, the water became more and more shallow and at last the long strip of land emerged above the waves. At first the high tides washed over the new land but finally it rose above sea level. Florida still lies low and its heights reach only 200 to 300 feet. It has many lakes and inland waters    and its southern tip is the marshy Everglades that seem to belong to both the land and the sea.