Location

Orange Grove is a karst window connected to Challenge and the Peacock system, located in Peacock Springs State Park, in Suwannee County, near Lauraville, Florida. It is covered in Duck Weed. Latitude: 30 07 38.14 N, Longitude: 83 07 50.75 W.

Description

Orange Grove Sink is a small pool measuring about 35 feet wide and 60 feet long. Wooden stairs allow divers and swimmers to enter the water and the two cave entrances are across from the stairs where the duck weed is pushed aside by the small spring flow. The sink is a deep bowl dropping to a depth of 45 feet. A variety of sunfish, turtles, and minnows live in and around the water. The spring is described on the CD Springs of Florida, Florida Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 66, but is not in the book.

Discharge

December 4, 2007: No boil, but small clear spot among the duck weed indicated some flow.

Analysis, not yet available

Temperature is in Celcius (22C = 72F), TDS is Total Dissolved Solids, DO is Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrate is NO3+NO2 as Nitrogen, Nitrite is NO2 as Nitrogen, Phosphate is PO4, E. Coli (number of colonies per 100 mL) measured using Easy Coliscan method. All values are reported in parts per million (mg/L), except Turbidity (JTU's or meters). Turbidity measured in NTU in 2002 and in JTU or meters in later years, NTU of 10 is crystal clear, at 50 there is haze or "see-through milky." JTU is essentially centimeters of clarity, so 60+ or 100+ indicates crystal clear water. Secchi Disk is depth in meters (m). WQI is the water quality index, a summary figure (100 is best possible). Critter counts are subjective categories of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, and are based on the number of individuals and variety of species.

Summary

not yet available.

National Association for Cave Diving, PO Box 14492, Gainesville, FL 32604, Telephone and Fax: 1-888-565-NACD (6223)