Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs, FL
10/21/16
During this trip we talked about natural springs that occur in Florida. The spring that we saw was Wall Springs where anywhere from 0 to 7,405 gallons can be dumped into the system per minute. This all depends on the amount of rainfall that has occurred in the area. Karst topography is a system of complex underground network. Caves, sinks, springs all occur as a result of karst topography. Carbon dioxide in the environment, when in water, dissolves making the water more acidic. The acidic water causes the limestone to dissolved in certain places leaving spaces in the rocks. This creates the network of caves underground.
The trip at Wall Springs park was a lot of fun and very interesting because at the entrance there was a spring fed by an aquifer and not even 100 feet away there was a saltwater environment that the fresh water fed into. This mix created a brackish water environment where mangroves and salt water fish inhabited.
Along our walk through the park we observed all types of mangroves and several different types of fish. on the boardwalk we stooped to look at a Brazillian Pepper plant that is an invasive species and is threatening many of Florida's ecosystems. Brazillian Pepper grows rapidly, taking over habitats quickly and pushing out native plant species.
Anderson park was a quick visit since we were short on time and we just looked at the sink hole that happened there many years ago. We talked about how the sink hole was connected to both Lake Tarpon and to the Gulf. This was problomatic because the Gulf being saltwater would then disrupt the freshwater ecosystem of the lake. Engineers then blocked off the sinkhole from the lake and also built a small barrier lake just in case some of the water continued to leak into the lake. The sinkhole next to Lake Tarpon goes about 200 feet down and is said to have very good visibility throughout the dive.
The spring dumping freshwater into a small pond that then feeds into a saltwater ecosystem. 
Great Blue Heron
Wall Springs Park 
Wall Springs Park
No comments:
Post a Comment