"Herps of the Southeast" Virtual Walk
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Stop
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Featured Herp
Hognose Snakes |
Heading north from Tampa the East Aiken students notice a recurring aquatic theme in the regional names: Land’O’Lakes, Spring Lake, Crystal Springs, Weeki Wachee Springs, Homasassa Springs, Citrus Springs. River names—Homasassa, Withlacochee, Chassahowitza—gush from the kids’ mouths like the rivers from the ground. Even their destination, Rainbow Springs State Park, sounds wet. It’s only appropriate for an area, from the eastern Florida panhandle down through the Central Highlands, that has more springs than any other comparably sized region in the world. Aside from mermaids, does there seem to be a connection here? Why all the “springs?” |
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The
answer of course lies in the geology of this region of Florida. Throughout
most of its history the platform of rock that comprises Florida has been
under water as part of the continental shelf. Over millions and millions
of years a gradual buildup of calcium carbonate occurred, chiefly from the
accumulation of deposits from organisms such as coral, shellfish, and
one-celled marine animals. Limestone, a type of sedimentary rock, formed
from these accumulations. The limestone layer became hundreds, even
thousands, of feet thick. Thin layers of clay and sand sediments from
Appalachian streams to the north of present day Florida were deposited
over the limestone. When sea levels fell millions of years later, Florida
finally emerged from the sea as part of the North American mainland. |
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The main component of
limestone, the mineral calcite, is easily dissolved by water that contains
carbonic acid. As limestone is dissolved huge caves, small cavities, and
interconnecting underground passages can be formed. Underground water
contained in the rock layers (aquifers) sometimes comes up through the
cracks and passages emerges at the surface in springs or sinkholes.
Florida has thousands of springs, with the top 300 springs discharging
more than 8 billion gallons of water per day. East Aiken arrived at Rainbow Springs on January 22, 2000. |
 Rainbow River and Springs |
Hognose Snakes
(Eastern and Southern)
(Heterodon platyrhinos and Heterodon
simus)
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Hognose
snake Fact Sheet
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  Hognose snake Fact Sheet |
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