Little Salt Spring


Little Salt Spring
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Little Salt Spring
Show map of Florida Show map of the US
Location	North Port, Florida
Nearest city	North Port
Coordinates	27°4′29″N 82°14′0″W / 27.07472°N 82.23333°W / 27.07472; -82.23333Coordinates: 27°4′29″N 82°14′0″W / 27.07472°N 82.23333°W / 27.07472; -82.23333
NRHP Reference #	79000692^[1]
Added to NRHP	July 10, 1979

Little Salt Spring is an archaeological and paleontological site in North Port, Florida, United States. It is located directly off Price Boulevard between US 41 and I-75 adjacent to Heron Creek Middle School in the city of North Port. On July 10, 1979, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[2]

Description

Little Salt Spring is a feature of the karst topography of Florida, specifically an example of a sinkhole. It is classified as a third magnitude spring.^[3] The numerous deep vents at the bottom of the sinkhole feed oxygen-depleted groundwater into it, producing an anoxic environment below a depth of about 5 m (16.4 ft).^[3] This fosters the preservation of Paleo-Indian and early Archaic artifacts and ecofacts, as well as fossil bones of the extinct megafauna once found in Florida.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Originally it was thought that Little Salt Spring was a shallow freshwater pond, but in the 1950s SCUBA divers discovered that it was a true sinkhole extending downward over 200 ft (61 m),^[3] similar to the cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula (another karst region). The actual depth of the surface pond is forty feet (12.2 m) with a central shaft dropping vertically to an inverted cone with a maximum determined depth at the outer edges of 245 feet (75 m). There are ledges around the wall of the cenote at 16 and 27 meters (52 and 89 feet) below the present water level.

The site has been owned by the University of Miami since 1980,^[2]^[7] with research performed by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. In 2013, Miami began considering selling the site to Sarasota County due to funding being cut towards maintaining the site and its facilities.^[8]

Prehistoric human use

The water level in the spring has varied over time. Twelve to thirteen thousand years ago the ocean level was about 100 meters (more than 300 feet) lower than at present, drawing down the water table in Florida, and the water level in Little Salt Spring was 27 meters (89 feet) lower than at present. The basin around the spring and a slough extending away from it are filled with moist, soft peat. Hundreds of burials dating from 5,200 to 6,800 years ago have been found in the slough. As has happened in other wetland burials in Florida, such as at the Windover Archaeological Site, brain matter survived in many of the skulls. In the 1970s the overturned shell of an extinct giant land tortoise was found on the 27-meter (89 ft) ledge. A wooden stake had been driven between the carapace and the plastron, and there is evidence of a fire under the tortoise. It appears that the tortoise had been cooked in its shell. The radiocarbon date for the wooden stake was 12,030 years ago, and for a bone from the tortoise, 13,450 years ago. Large numbers of human bones have been recovered from the spring itself, but were not collected under controlled conditions.^[9]

References

↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
1 2 "Dial Hotline". Sarasota Herald Tribune. November 24, 1980. p. 54. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
1 2 3 Van Ee, NJ; Riera-Gomez, E Rick (2009). "Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotopes Suggest Two Sources for Little Salt Spring". In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2009. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 28th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
↑ "Little Salt Spring Reveals More Florida History". July 6, 2005. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
↑ Clausen, C. J.; A. D. Cohen; Cesare Emiliani; J. A. Holman; J. J. Stipp (16 February 1979). "Little Salt Spring, Florida: A Unique Underwater Site". Science. 203 (4381): 609–614. doi:10.1126/science.203.4381.609. PMID 17813360. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
↑ Alvarez Zarikiana, Carlos A.; Peter K. Swart; John A. Gifford; Patricia L. Blackwelder (5 August 2005). "Holocene paleohydrology of Little Salt Spring, Florida, based on ostracod assemblages and stable isotopes". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 225 (1-4): 134–156. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.01.023. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
↑ Maynard, Ashleigh (February 25, 2009). "Little Salt Spring makes big news nationwide". Miami Hurricane. Retrieved 2010-02-05. (reports the transfer date as 1982)
↑ Taylor, Josh (2013-06-05). "Little Salt Spring could be sold to Sarasota County - Sarasota News | Mysuncoast.com and ABC 7: 7 South Newsroom". Mysuncoast.com. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
↑ Purdy:84-90

Bibliography

Purdy, Barbara A. (2008). Florida's People During the Last Ice Age. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3204-7

External links

Sarasota County listings at National Register of Historic Places
Sarasota County listings at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
Little Salt Spring at the Marine Affairs and Policy Division of RSMAS

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Little Salt Spring.

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.