Understanding the Florida Aquifer, Sinkholes, and Water Sources
Take an interactive tour in this click-through presentation to understand the journey of water to the springs. Learn about the connection of springs and sinkholes and how sinkholes form. Learn about the water cycle and how an estimated two quadrillion gallons of water moves through the Floridan aquifer, supporting springs and the residents of Florida. Also, discover how human activities impact the quality and quantity of water in the aquifer and ultimately in the springs.
With the aquifers largely depleted and intrusive ocean waters saturating the bedrock, rising salinity poses great challenges to providing fresh water to the people of South Florida. Agriculture, the states largest industry, second only to Tourism, both uses much of its water and contributes to the pollution of Lake Okeechobee. Floridans have long avoided drinking the tap water, having home filtration systems, or buying bottles water, but what lies ahead for this state, a solution to the water crisis, wont come in a bottle.
Read about the fight for State Legislative action some fight in Orlando, FL.
!SINKHOLES!
Saturated suburbs un-safe from sub-terrain swiss cheese syndrome
January in Florida tends to be dry and chilly, with only a few days dipping below freezing. This winter, however, temperatures in west-central Florida dipped below the freezing point for 11 straight days, making 2010 Florida’s coldest winter in 80 years. To prevent their crops from freezing, strawberry and citrus farmers sprayed their fields with water for days on end.
About 90 percent of Florida residents and farmers get their water from aquifers, interconnected pore spaces in permeable carbonate bedrock. Most people in the state tap into the top part of the Floridan Aquifer, which underlies all of Florida and parts of the surrounding states. Last January, the parts of the Upper Floridan Aquifer in west-central Florida where strawberry farmers are concentrated saw the groundwater level plummet a record 18 meters. Wells ran dry. Then disaster ensued: Sinkholes formed across the region.
In a normal January, there are only a handful of sinkholes in southwestern Florida, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In 2010, though, about 130 sinkholes formed across the region — some in dangerous places, such as under roads or homes.
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Over tens of millions of years, Florida remained isolated and partially submerged, much like the Bahamas today, and thousands of feet of limestone accumulated in its warm, shallow waters. As more time passed, a channel between Florida and North America closed and sand and clay that had eroded off the Appalachian mountains settled atop the reef. This created a topographic layer cake with sand and clay sandwiched between the limestone.
In Florida, the limestone bedrock is protected by a surface layer of sand and clay. Thus, when a sinkhole forms naturally, over centuries, sand and clay fill the void, creating a muddy depression. These depressions tend to evolve into swamps.
When left alone for long stretches of time, swamps created by sinkholes have deepened and broadened into Florida’s signature caves, estuaries and wetlands — well-known in the Everglades but also common throughout the rest of the state, says Robert Brinkmann, a geologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Topographic maps of the center of the state reveal relatively dry uplands and a patchy distribution of low-lying wetlands, most of which trace their origins back to sinkholes. “Every little wetland is a little sinkhole,” Brinkmann says.
