December 26, 2004
BY GREG C. BRUNO, SUN STAFF WRITER
The Gainesville Sun

For Florida counties hit by torrential rains and unforgiving winds, the hurricanes of 2004 left a trail of destructive calling cards, from uprooted trees to dismantled lives.

But at Ichetucknee Springs State Park near Fort White, the weather had a different effect.

When the skies dried after more than a foot of record-setting precipitation, managers there found evidence of post-storm creationism - in the form of three temporary springs flowing near Blue Hole. The 12-inch-wide openings, similar to sinkholes with water moving in the opposite direction, were draining into the Ichetucknee River.

"This area is like a piece of swiss cheese," said Wesley Jones, the park's assistant manager. "From the 13 inches (of rain) that we got, it brought up the aquifer."

Because Ichetucknee Springs lies down-slope from Lake City, and low-lying areas typically flood faster than higher ground, Jones said, the park is prone to flooding and elevated water levels during storm events. Add to that a burst of heavy rain putting pressure on the already saturated soils, and groundwater south of Lake City had no choice but to pop skyward like a foaming bottle of champagne, Jones said.

"The water had to come out," he said.

More common during heavy rains are the opening of sinks, groundwater experts say. Widespread flooding in the Suwannee and Santa Fe River basins this summer created numerous openings in North Central Florida, and Jones said an entire trailer was swallowed up by the shifting soils near Fort White.

But the development of new springs isn't unheard of.

"The karst landscape is a constantly evolving landscape," said Ann Tihansky, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Tampa. "Rock continues to dissolve; springs do migrate. There's been lots of scientific work that's looked at the migration of springs, and as we change water levels and water conditions, we can see responses."

Still, while the short-term creation of springs may date to the dawn of geologic time, interest in the subject at Ichetucknee is a relatively new phenomenon, Jones said.

A similar event six years ago hardly caused a stir.

"At the time that we reported it (in 1998), it wasn't a subject that anyone was interested in," the assistant park manager said.

But in recent years, there's been so much attention to springs protection thanks to a program created by Gov. Jeb Bush, "there seems to be more of an interest," Jones said.

Unfortunately, even calls from reporters can't slow nature's tide. Within weeks of discovering the newest Ichetucknee residents, Jones said they had already begun to disappear.

"They're still flowing," he said earlier this month, "but not like they were."

Greg Bruno can be reached at (352) 374-5026.

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041226/LOCAL/212260320/1078/news