Indian Spring, Wakulla

Coordinates:	30.2508 N 84.3222 W
No:	240        (list of all attractions)
Category:	Springs, Caves
Values:	Geology
Rank:	7
Address:	North America, United States, Florida, Wakulla County, 2.5 km north-east from Wakulla Spring
Type:	karst window
Average output:	17 l/s
Cave length:	3,626 m
Cave depth:	30 m

Indian Spring.
Paul Clark, Flickr / CC BY 2.0

At the surface Indian Spring seems like nothing impressive. Output of this spring is just 17 litres per second (7th magnitude) – nothing, if compared to nearby Wakulla Spring with its 11,000 litres per second.

Area around this spring is used for camping and spring itself is fine place for swimming. Spring run – the stream above the land surface – continues for approximately 1 km and empties in Sally Ward Spring.

The underground stream

Spring contains a cavern – the part, which is reached by daylight and a cave – where natural light is not seen anymore. Diving in this spring has revealed another – very exciting – reality. It turns out that below is large, water filled cave system with powerful stream in it. Thus far the cave has been surveyed in 3,626 m length – going both upstreams and downstreams from the entrance. Cave is up to 30 m deep.

The flow of the stream below the springs is thousands of litres per second. Although it has not been explored with certainty, this water most likely goes towards Wakulla Spring. Speed of stream is 0.1 m/s.

The explored passages of the Wakulla - Leon Sinks cave system are bypassing Indian Spring in a few hundred metres distance. Hydrological research shows that Indian Spring is connected to this cave system.

Map

See Indian Spring, Wakulla on the map of Florida!

References

1. Doron Nof, Nathan Paldor. The cave resonator and the Parker Turner cave collapse problem. Safety Science 48 (2010).