Woodville Karst Plain

Stratigraphy and lithology

Beneath the surficial sands lie the Eocene-to-Oligocene carbonates of the Floridan Aquifer System — principally the Suwannee, Ocala and Avon Park formations. These limestones and dolostones are highly soluble, and their fracture and bedding planes guide the development of conduits.

Local variation in lithology — chert content, recrystallisation and porosity — strongly influences where and how passages form, producing the abrupt transitions between breakdown rooms and clean, water-worn tube that divers encounter underground.

Structural setting

The plain sits within a gently dipping carbonate platform, broken by a network of joints and minor faults. These structural weaknesses localise dissolution, so the orientation of major conduits often mirrors regional fracture trends rather than the present-day surface drainage.

Regional hydrology

Groundwater moves generally southwestward toward the Gulf of Mexico, discharging at the coast and at first-magnitude springs. The aquifer is largely unconfined here, leaving it highly responsive to rainfall and vulnerable to surface contamination.

Local hydrology

At the scale of individual systems, flow is organised into discrete conduits that capture and route water between sinks and springs. Dye traces have linked sinking streams to springs kilometres away, confirming rapid, turbulent conduit flow rather than diffuse seepage through the rock matrix.

Conduit system descriptions

Mapped conduits in the WKP descend in a series of broad depth levels, from shallow cavern zones near the water table to deep trunk passages below eighty metres. The table below summarises the proportion of surveyed passage at each level.