The Case of the Disappearing Lake
- June 21, 2021
In northern Leon County, Florida, a certain body of water performs a disappearing act every few years. Lake Jackson is a medium sized, fairly shallow lake near Tallahassee. It covers a surface area of approximately 6.2 square miles, and spans roughly 8 miles at its longest point.
Beneath the lake’s surface are large sinkholes that remain clogged by sediments most of the time. However, every few years, the underlying groundwater drops to a point that causes the sinkholes’ sediments to collapse. When that occurs, water in the lake begins to rapidly drain through into the subsurface aquifer. Depending on the level of groundwater when the collapse occurs, the lake may drain minimally or be almost completely emptied.
In June 2021, Lake Jackson began to drain on Monday, June 7. By the end of the day, an extraordinary amount of water had been lost, and the depths of the sinkhole were being exposed for all to see. Several days later, the sinkhole and surrounding lake bed were bone dry, and the area took on an almost other-worldly appearance.
We traveled to Lake Jackson about two weeks after the lake began to empty and were amazed at the main sinkhole’s depth and appearance. It was approximately 40 feet deep and quite wide. Brisk “rivers” of outflow cascaded into the sinkhole, carving deep crevices and creating several small waterfalls. One could have easily imagined themselves standing alongside a desert canyon somewhere in the American southwest.
The drained portion of the lake bed was covered with grainy pillows of soft, black dirt. It reminded us of lava fields left from the eruption of a volcano, only soft and squishy rather than hard and sharp edged. Despite more warning signs than you could shake a stick at, many visitors scooted right past the yellow caution tape surrounding the large sinkhole and climbed to the bottom to get a better look. We stayed at the sinkhole’s rim and took our pictures from there.
Unfortunately, fish and other critters were impacted by the lake’s draining. By the time we visited, the City of Tallahassee had already removed a large number of dead fish from the lake bed. Those left in the small pockets of the lake were quickly succumbing to a lack of oxygen in the shallow water.
