SOME FLORIDA LAKES AND LAKE BASLMS. 



BY E. H. SELLARDS 



INTRODUCTION. 



Florida is justly celebrated for the number and beauty of its 

 lakes. These lakes vary in size from the small ponds which scarce- 

 ly exceed a few rods in circumference to the great Okeechobee, the 

 surface area of which exceeds 700 square miles. Okeechobee is 

 in fact noteworthy as being, with the exception of Lake Michigan, 

 the largest fresh water lake lying wholly within the United States. 

 In depth the Florida lakes are likewise variable, and in fact the 

 depth is frequently in inverse ratio to the size. Many of the large 

 lakes are comparatively shallow, while some of the small lakes are 

 deep. This is particularly true of the small sink-hole lakes, some 

 of which, while not exceeding a few rods in circumference have a 

 depth of one to two hundred or more feet. In origin and his- 

 tory of development the Florida lakes are as variable as in other 

 characteristics. 



The lakes described in this paper include only a few of the many 

 Florida lakes and represent a type peculiar in character and in 

 manner of development. They are fresh water lakes, often of con- 

 siderable size, although usually relatively shallow as compared to 

 their areal extent. Moreover they are variable in character. Un- 

 der normal conditions they are clear water lakes abounding in fish 

 and the favorite haunt of the wild duck. They have as a rule no 

 srrface outlet, yet from many of them the water has at times 

 disappeared in a manner seemingly inexplicable. In most instances 

 the lakes thus disappearing have refilled slowly. Some of them, 

 however, have remained dry a number of years. A correct under- 

 standing of these lakes together with the origin and development 

 of the basins which they occupy is necessarily based on a study o£ 

 the geologic formations which underlie them. 



The fall of 1909 offered an exceptionally favorable time for in- 

 vestigating lakes of this character. The prolonged dry weather 

 of the past few years had reduced these lakes to a low stage offer- 

 ing an opportunity of examining the soil and vegetation as well as 

 the geologic structure of their basins. At the Tallahassee sta- 

 tion in Leon County, near which several of these lakes are located, 

 the rainfall at the close of 1909 had been below normal as shown 

 b}- the weather bureau records for two years in succession. At the 

 Gainesville station in Alachua County, the rainfall had been be- 



*Second Edition. The first edition of this paper, the supply of v/hith is 

 now exhausted, was published in the Third .'\nnual Report, pp. 43-76, 1910. 



119 



