The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-03-18

Dr. Kest Gives Hatcresslnx anier'
nataon On the Geology 81 Fisridas

Dr. Kest Gives Intcrestinx hnaer'
| usataon On the Geology - Fisradas
WHICH TEfosE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN FD'A
IDA rxsraRArroN WOULD DO WELL. 10 STUDY
LAKE CRY, Fla, Feb. 81. 1885,
Editor Record - II is about time now that
should let you hear again from your correspond
emit in this locality, and although may not nave
much of interest to your readers 10 communi-
cate, / viii yet write again at this time. Spnog
has been upon as here for some time, tnougn
later this year than usual and vegetation u I'D pro-
gress In the forests, the violets, jessamine yer
benas oxalis, phox etc, are in their glory: Inc
| deciduous trees are putting on their ieafy piu'
mayo. Gardening and field planting have been IN
| progress for some time, and potatoes are being
| In considerable growth, some putting out their
| tubers, now as large as flberts. Cabbages are
| beginning to head out, and peas arc IN bloom.
Further south In the State this advance In vege-
| tatiou I had witnessed three weeks ago. The
| orange trees. which in this northern part OF the
| State had been damaged by the freezing, are now
showing the extent Of the injury by the dried
state of the twigs of the branches OF many trees
| Some, however, are putting iorth their ionage,
| even from the tips of the branches. Still there
| IA no question but that hereabouts the damage
| to the orange trees has been considerable, tor
| doubtless the vigor of the trees is lessened 10
/ some extent, even in such as are now putting
/ out foliage There is as yet nO blossoming oil
trees in this locality, but as The fruit IS borne on
| new growth, the people, even IN this iocali,y,
| expect q crop OF oranges this year But IN this
| they may be disappointed. II is at least too soon
| yet to know.
stated in my last that probably would stale
| some things of my geological researches IN the
state preliminary survey This Is In progress,
but goes slow in the showing up oil details. The
surface rock Of this stale il obscurcd by sand and
| clay deposit almost everywhere, and excepting
| the river and coast exposures, excavations ior
| roads and buildings alode afford ready oppor-
| tunity for observation. Still there are some
| localities where rocks lie out over the surface,
but these are mostly out Of normal position, and
| while they indicate the character of the mate
rails do vet not help readily for the determination
of the horizon, dip, or strike OF the rocks L
| know however the state has deposit gener-
| aly of a soft disiniegrated limestone OF the up
per eOcene tertiary, called in Europe the oligo-
Gene, and is so named by Heilprn for the Flori-
| da rock This contains the numeslite and orba-
told fossils, which prove il to be eocene Florida,
therefore, is OF greater geological age than has
been supposed. Those authors who gave II as
| of recent cOraline formation were mistaken. Ii
| is true, however, that coral is very prominent
| characteristic of the rocks, but il is eOcene.
One other prominent characteristc-one re-
| lating to the topography Of the sate-bas
come under my observation, which is thai
| Florida is by no means simply long
stretch of dead level as has been declared.
Nor is the broken or billy part confined to
the western half of the State as reported.
There are several counties, even in the more
| southern part of the eDinsula that are consid-
eraby billy. Such are liillsborough, Il ernando
and Sumter. Some other counties also have
respectable hills and gull.s. Lakes abound in
all parts of the state These are of clear water
and Astounding with fishes, and mostly some
| alligators and many varieties of wafer fowl.
| The lakes are often with clean and simple mar
gins, having their shores lined by clean, white
sand, and this skirted by timber, which is most
| ly of myrtle, willow, bay, cypress, gum, gallbery
| and palmetto. But often the pines grow all
about and close 10 the waters edge; this is the
long leafed pine.
The soft limestone underlying the sand clay
| and soil is very porous and is channeled in d.
| vers ways by water courses, so that streams and
| even subtcrranean rivers course through them.
Sinks on the surface of various sizes from a foo;
or two in diameter to the extent of an acre even,
| are net unfrequent in some places. These have
| water sheds to them, made by the surface flow
| thither, which drains the land about them for a
| greater or less distance. Subterranean streams
| emanate from these sinks and springs of nice
pure water are thus caused where their course is
| cut to the surface. Such springs are numerous.
| and some as Wakulla Silver, Green Cove, Crys-
| tai and White Sulphur Springs, are of immense
| size, and some of them even giving off "A stream
| or river that admits of navigation, as is well
| known.
Various kinds of clay are found in this Stale
| In some localities this admits of brick making.
but is often too sandy, and is liable to have
iron nodules intermixed. The clay is generally
| stained with oxyd OF iron 10 yellowness or mostly
| to redness, but some specimens are white In
/ some localities in Central Florida have found a
| white mari of most beautiful appearance. 1t is
| very fine and pure, making il liable to be mis-
| taken for kaOlin. In other localities, and espe-
cially about springs or spring brooks discovered
an exceedingly fine material of pure whiteness
that consists Of almost purely slicious character.
1t requires microscope Of considerable power 10
detect its granular nature. and it proves to be
/ crystalline. Silicate of magnesia is common in
/ nOdular form, and is disposed 10 be hardened by
| exposure. When exposed and dry the uodules
ale liable to be fractured by submersion in water
like unto the slackenng OF lime. only that the
fragments are hard and splintery. Goodies of
| chacedOny and calcite are found in various To-
| calties. The former are abundant al one point
on Hillsborough bay a few miles west of Tampa
These are singularly beautiful and have great
| diversity Of cOl0rs
| have visited number of artesian wells now
beng bored in various parts OF the State. These
prove that the sand, clay and mari deposits over
| lying the limestone are of varied thickness, even
| in narrowly circumscribed localities, but some
| what uniform-that is the sand and pine lands
| are much alike, and the hammock or clay lands
| are of sameness somewhat. But have had no
| complete analysis of the soils and rocks as yet,
| and inspection by the eye, the microscope and
| the chemical test reactions, alone have had ser
| vice thus far.
| The materials Of the deposits in Florida do
| not indicate readily that direct water shed has
| existed from the Appalachian range although the
| general principles of American geology would
| suggest this. But certain il is that there have
been local disturbances OF the rock beds here. The
rocks lie out in various localities, and have ev-
| cry appearance OF local disturbance. There are
ridges of the ebert that underlies the cocene lime
| stone, usually given as connected with the lig-
mite bed of the eocene. This ebert is frequently
clean and more or less transparent, but often has
coraline material about it, and in appearance is
| somewhat like the ebert OF the sub-carbonifer-
ous Its fossils, where present, of course, gives
| only the tertiary characteristics
| One thing cannot refrain from noting again
| and always, is that the sandy soils of Florida
must not be judged of by similar appearances of
deposit over the geological formations in the
north interior, where all their sand deposits are
lacustrine and huvatile, or from northern drift.
These are all marine deposits directly or indi-
| rectly deposited by marine agencies, as is cyl.
| dent from the constantly recurring presence of
| marine shells and marls. These sand lands-of.
| ten called barrens because The surface looks
like sand barrens elsewherel are ever more or
| less marty, and are possessed OF marine salts
and carbOnates, that stimulate vegetation.
Hence the heavy growth of timber and the
moderate yield OF the produce of agriculture I
say moderate, since OF course, these sands are
| not expected 10 produce luxuriance of yeeeta
| arrl m cfull