I04 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



5. THE MIDDLE FLORIDA HAMMOCK BELT 



(Figs. 12-14, 39, 41. Soil analyses 10-26, A, B, Q-U) 



This has its greatest development in northern Florida, and it? 

 southern terminus in Marion County, where it covers only about 

 250 squar.e miles. Unlike the portions in Alachua, Bradford. 

 Columbia and Hamilton Counties, which occupy a slope between 

 the high flatwoods on the east and the less elevated lime-sink region 

 on the west, the portion south of Orange Lake has sandy lime-sink 

 country on both sides of it, and is more or less interrupted, like a 

 row of fertile islands in a sea of sand. The difference in elevation 

 is not very marked, but the hammock belt averages a little higher 

 than adjacent portions of the lime-sink region. 



Geology and Topography. In this belt the Ocala limestone, ol 

 uppermost Eocene age, comes to the surface in many places, and as 

 it is usually pure enough to dissolve readily, and considerably 



Fig 12. Pit of Florida Lime Co., near Ocala. By E. H. Sellards, Feb- 

 ruary, 1910. 



elevated above the ground-water level, there are numerous sinks, 

 caves, and subterranean streams. The limestone is quarried in 

 several places (fig. 12), and mostly burned for lime. Some of the 

 hills are partly capped by a friable sandstone of uncertain age. 



