The Wacissa River is a large, spring-fed stream located in south-central Jefferson County , Florida . Its headwaters are located about a mile south of the town of Wacissa , where the river emerges crystal clear from a group of large limestone springs . From its headsprings, the river flows approximately 12 miles (19 km) south through a broad cypress swamp before breaking into numerous braided channels which join the Aucilla River a few miles further south. The river is managed by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission as part of the Aucilla Wildlife Management Area , and has been declared an Outstanding Florida Waterway by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
19-670: The springs that feed the Wacissa River emerge in a bottomland forest below the Cody Scarp , a relic marine terrace marked by a line of hills to the north. According to the Florida Bureau of Geology, the group of springs consist of at least 12 known springs scattered along the upper 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the Wacissa River. Land to the east and west of the river is flat and swampy and surface elevations are little more than 3 feet (0.91 m) above river level. The area immediately adjoining
38-460: A karst plain to the west has elevations up to 190 feet (58 meters) mean sea level (MSL). The Cody Scarp runs right through Gainesville, Florida . Escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations . The terms scarp and scarp face are often used interchangeably with escarpment . Some sources differentiate
57-460: A fault displaces the ground surface so that one side is higher than the other, a fault scarp is created. This can occur in dip-slip faults , or when a strike-slip fault brings a piece of high ground adjacent to an area of lower ground. Earth is not the only planet where escarpments occur. They are believed to occur on other planets when the crust contracts , as a result of cooling. On other Solar System bodies such as Mercury , Mars , and
76-679: Is heavily vegetated. The exotics, Water hyacinth and hydrilla , dominate the upper reaches of the river. The spring runs themselves are often home to pickerel weed, arrowhead, elodea and eel grass. Wild flowers are also present, including several varieties of water lilies. The Wacissa is well known for its large concentration of aquatic birds, including egrets, herons, ibis, osprey, wood storks, limpkins, anhingas, kingfishers, barred owls and bald eagles. Aquatic animals are also abundant, including alligators, river otters, turtles, water snakes, and crayfish. The main species of fish are bass, mullet, catfish, red-breasted sunfish, stumpknocker and gar, although
95-484: Is located in north and north central Florida United States. It is a relict scarp and ancient persistent topographical feature formed from an ancient early Pleistocene shorelines of ~1.8 million to 10,000 years BP during interglacial periods. The Cody Scarp has a slope of 5% to 12%. The Cody Scarp runs from just east of the Apalachicola River to Alachua County . It is the boundary over that range between
114-716: Is most prominent in Leon County, Florida where it runs east to west. It is a remnant of two Pleistocene interglacial shorelines. The first shoreline is known as the Okefenokee Terrace. The second is known as the Wicomico Terrace. In Jefferson County to the east, the scarp coincides with the Wicomico Terrace with an elevation at 40–45 feet above mean sea level . The scarp separates the Hawthorn Group of fine to medium grained sandy clays and silty , clayey sands of
133-690: Is now some 85 years into recovery, logging activities are still common in the area. Large portions of the adjacent lands—though managed by the state of Florida—are owned by the St. Joe Company . However, the company has agreed not to cut trees in the immediate vicinity of the river. Today, the Wacissa is used almost exclusively for recreational purposes, including swimming, boating, fishing and birdwatching. 30°22′29″N 83°48′44″W / 30.3746767°N 83.8122081°W / 30.3746767; -83.8122081 Cody Scarp The Cody Scarp or Cody Escarpment
152-731: The Gulf Coastal Lowlands and the Northern Highlands of Florida. The Gulf Coast Lowlands have only a thin layer of soil over limestone , while the Northern Highlands consist of plateaus of sand, clay and carbonate rock . The scarp rises about 100 feet (30 m) from the Gulf Coastal Lowlands to the Northern Highlands. The Cody Scarp and the Gulf Coastal Lowlands are karst landscapes, with many sinkholes , springs, underground streams, and related features. The scarp, at 42.6 to 45.7 meters (140 to 150 feet) above sea level ,
171-569: The Moon , the Latin term rupes is used for an escarpment. When sedimentary beds are tilted and exposed to the surface, erosion and weathering may occur. Escarpments erode gradually and over geological time . The mélange tendencies of escarpments results in varying contacts between a multitude of rock types. These different rock types weather at different speeds, according to Goldich dissolution series so different stages of deformation can often be seen in
190-653: The Red Hills Region of north Florida and southwest Georgia to the north from the fine to medium fine grained, partially recrystallized, silty to sandy limestones of the Gulf Coastal Lowlands to the south. A dramatic difference in elevation is seen here as the Red Hills, at a maximum of 70 meters (230 feet) mean sea level (MSL), drops to the area known as the Woodville Karst Plain , an elevation of 50 to 80 feet (15 to 24 meters) within 15 miles (24 km). On
209-584: The Woodville Karst Plain, the Suwannee Limestone of the Floridan Aquifer is shallow and exposed in many places. This is the primary recharge area for Wakulla Springs and where the aquifer is most vulnerable to pollution on the land surface. It is also a zone of high sinkhole activity. In Alachua County, Florida this westward-facing escarpment between an upland plateau to the east and
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#1732851616213228-468: The base of the plateau . Scarps are generally formed by one of two processes: either by differential erosion of sedimentary rocks , or by movement of the Earth's crust at a geologic fault . The first process is the more common type: the escarpment is a transition from one series of sedimentary rocks to another series of a different age and composition. Escarpments are also frequently formed by faults. When
247-456: The billions. The limited use made of the river prior to the Civil War, for barging cotton to Newport from Jefferson County plantations, largely ended after the war and the area remained essential virgin. Late in the nineteenth century, the Wacissa area became well-known to ornithologists because of ivory-billed woodpeckers which were then fairly common there ... In 1930 the entire Wacissa watershed
266-495: The heavy surface cover of aquatic plants makes difficult to impractical the reliable measurement [of the water flow] of individual springs ... The average flow [of the river] from August 1971 through September 1974 was 389 cubic feet per second. The flora is typical for a freshwater swamp in the deep southeast; pond cypress and bald cypress dominate the banks, followed by sweetbay, maple, sweet gum, hickories and oaks, as well as magnolias, holly, willow, and sabal palms. The water itself
285-402: The lower river was "drastically changed." Instead of the shallow, clear stream he had once visited, he found it running high and dark in all seasons. Apple snails, which depend on clear, lime-laden water, survived only in the upper reaches of the river near the springs. Birds such as limpkin and egret which feed on the snails, had become as scarce as the snails. Although much of the Wacissa forest
304-416: The river and springs is densely forested with cypress, oak, some pine, and generally moderate undergrowth. To the north, less than a mile from the head of the river, the land becomes hilly, rising in most parts more than 100 feet (30 m) above the lowland. The river is generally clear and cool, averaging 21 °C (70 °F) ... The distribution of springs in, as well as adjacent to, the Wacissa River and
323-439: The two terms, with escarpment referring to the margin between two landforms , and scarp referring to a cliff or a steep slope. In this usage an escarpment is a ridge which has a gentle slope on one side and a steep scarp on the other side. More loosely, the term scarp also describes a zone between a coastal lowland and a continental plateau which shows a marked, abrupt change in elevation caused by coastal erosion at
342-643: The warmouth perch, speckled perch, flier bream, and shellcracker may also found in the Wacissa. According to George L. Thurston III 's 1976 report on the Wacissa for the Canoe Trail Atlas: Two centuries ago, open stands of virgin longleaf pine grew on the stony upland north of the extensive hardwood hammock at Nuttal Rise. West of the Wacissa, a wild swampy pineland was sprinkled with outcroppings of chert. The whole region of some 400 square miles (1,000 km) swarmed with dear, bear, bobcat, wild turkey and bobwhites, as well as migratory birds and waterfowl by
361-420: Was clear-cut by timber companies which sold the pine and bald cypress lumber. The grades on which they built their tram roads still criss-cross the area, forming the basis for most of the dirt roads which now provide access to the river. Removal of the forest had remarkable results. When naturalist, Herbert Stoddard, Senior, visited the area in 1932 after the absence of some years, he reported the entire ecology of
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