SOIL SURVEY OF THE OCALA AREA, FLORIDA. 
By Charles N. Mooney and W. J. Latimer, of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, and Herman Gunter and Emil Gunter, of the Florida 
State Geological Survey.* Hugh H. Bennett, Inspector in Charge of 
Southern Division. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA. 
The Ocala area is situated in the north-central part of the Florida 
Peninsula, approximately midway between Jacksonville and Tampa. 
From the Gulf of Mexico the western boundary is distant about 15 
miles, while the eastern boundary is approximately 60 miles from the 
Atlantic coast. The area is rectangular in shape, about 35 miles long 
north and south and 30 miles wide east and west. 
Topographic sheets were made of this section some years ago by 
the United States Geological Survey. These were used as the base 
for mapping the soils, such changes as were necessary to bring the 
road systems in accord with existing* conditions being made. 
The survey comprises an area, inclusive of the bodies of water, of 
about 1,002 square miles, or 641,280 acres. It covers parts of Mari¬ 
on, Sumter, Citrus, and Levy Counties, about half the area mapped 
being in Marion County. 
The peninsula of Florida lies in the physiographic province 
known as the Coastal Plain. Roughly, the peninsula consists on 
either coast of a generally flat coastal country, only slightly elevated 
above sea level, with an elevated region extending down through the 
center, the elevation attained being 200 or more feet 011 the highest 
points. This elevated region is spoken of as the backbone of the 
peninsula and has been held up by the underlying rock beds. The 
Ocala area is situated in this elevated region and has a varied top¬ 
ography ranging from flat areas, known as “flatwoods,” to rolling 
areas and high “hammocks.” The general elevation ranges from 
40 feet above sea level in some of the stream valleys to 220 feet in 
the western part of the area. 
This part of Florida is underlain by limestone at no great depth; 
in fact, in places it outcrops at the surface. In the geologic past the 
*An edition of this paper was issued by the U. S. Bureau of Soils, Sep¬ 
tember 15, 1913, as Advance Sheet, Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1912. 
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