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Nutall Rise in Aucilla River

Aucilla River at Nutall Rise
Aucilla River at Nutall Rise, 1960ies. / Florida Memory Project, Wikimedia commons / public domain

WorldBlue  In short

Aucilla River is an unusual river – more than 30 times it goes underground and then appears again. The last, largest reappearance before the sea is Nutall Rise.

2.9 out of 10 stars 29.3%

GPS coordinates
30.1504 N 83.9636 W
Location, address
North America, United States, Florida, border of Jefferson and Taylor Counties, Aucilla River above U.S. Route 98 bridge over Aucilla River
Average discharge
10 200 l/s (December 2001)

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WorldYellow In detail

Aucilla River is a 143 km long river that starts in Georgia and flows southward towards the Gulf of Mexico, Apalachee Bay. The river flows through the karst area and is quite unusual: it frequently goes underground, reappears, and then again disappears – in total more than 30 times.

Nutall Rise is the last reappearance of the river. After this resurgence, the Aucilla River flows 8.7 kilometers until Apalachee Bay.

Before the resurgence Aucilla flows underground for some 200 m with a smaller “window” in between.

Nutall Rise forms a pool that is 66 by 86 m large, up to 16.2 m deep.

The discharge of the river at the resurgence in December 2001 was around 10 200 l /s (1).

Nutall Rise is not a true spring – it is just a river with tannic, brown water that for a while flows under the ground, through limestone cavities.

Resurgence got its name from William B. Nutall (approx. 1800 – 1836), a local landowner (2). His father bought the land there in 1828 and established El Destino Plantation. This was a large enterprise, initially a sugar cane plantation and later – a cotton plantation. Nutall Rise is on private land today as well.

References

  1. First Magnitude Springs of Florida, Florida Geological Survey Open File Report No 85. Accessed in February 14, 2022.
  2. Aucilla Research Institute, John E. Ladson, III, Dr. George Cole The Rise and Fall of William B. Nuttall, October 2020. Accessed in February 14, 2022.

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