Apalachee Bay

Not to be confused with Apalachicola Bay.

Apalachee Bay is a bay in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico occupying an indentation of the Florida coast to the west of where the Florida peninsula joins the United States mainland. It is bordered by Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Franklin counties.

The Aucilla, Econfina, St. Marks, and Ochlockonee rivers drain into the bay. Most of the bay's coast is the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Name

Apalachee Bay is named for the Apalachee people which lived between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers until early in the 18th century. The St. Marks River below where the Wakulla River joins it was at one time known as the Apalachee River. The meaning of "Apalachee" was not recorded, but in the Choctaw language, which is believed to be closely related to the Apalachee language, Apelachi means 'help' or 'helper', and Apelichi means 'the place in which to rule, preside, or govern in'.

Geology

Most of the shoreline of Apalachee Bay is part of the Big Bend Coast, a drowned karst region, covered with salt marsh and mangrove forests. It includes freshwater springs, and oyster reefs. There are barrier islands west of the Ocklockonee River, at the western end of the bay, but there are no barrier islands elsewhere around the bay. The coast of Apalachee Bay has little or no sand or mud. The karst topography has produced an irregular, frequently exposed, bedrock surface. The lack of sand has been a feature of the Apalachee Bay coast since at least the Pleistocene. Sediment of Holocene origin is generally limited to salt marshes and the nearshore zone, and is redistributed by tidal action and storm events. The coast of Apalachee Bay is on the Gulf Coastal Lowlands of Florida, which has recently exposed ocean-smoothed terraces with Tertiary limestone at or just below the surface. The presence of a high water table has produced a karst landscape. The limestone hosts the Florida aquifer, which reaches the surface near the coast. Steady discharge from the aquifer supports the discharge of the many springs feeding rivers and streams along the coast and maintains a high water table near the coast.

Rivers and other freshwater sources

The Aucilla, Econfina, St. Marks, and Ochlockonee rivers drain into the bay. All of the rivers that reach the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Apalachee Bay are partly spring-fed. The rivers and smaller streams flowing into Apalachee Bay lower the salinity of the nearshore water. The seasonality of rainfall produces seasonal variations in the salinity of the waters in Apalachee Bay. Rainfall from tropical cyclones may also lower the salinity of nearshore waters. The shallowness of nearshore waters also mean that the water temperature is strongly affected by the air temperature. Tropical species may be killed by cold weather, or may migrate southward or to deeper water less subject to cooling in winter.

Besides rivers and streams, hundreds of springs (including submarine springs), fractures and seeps along the coast of Apalachee Bay contribute to the flow of freshwater into the Gulf of Mexico. The close proximity of the Florida aquifer to the surface with only a shallow soil layer over the porous limestone bedrock means that groundwater can emerge in many locations. A survey found hundreds of places along the coast which flows into the Gulf, including many under water in the Gulf. The authors of that study estimated that the discharge from the identified inland sources is equivalent to that of one 1st-magnitude spring for every 2 miles (3.2 km) of coast.

History

Underwater archaeological sites

Beginning in the 1980s submerged archaeological sites have been identified and examined on the seabed of Apalachee Bay. During the height of the last glacial period, global sea levels were at least 100 metres (330 ft) lower than in the 20th Century. All of the Florida Platform would have been above sea level, with the west coast of the Florida peninsula being about 150 miles (240 km) west of the current coast. Sea levels were rising when the first people reached Florida late in the Pleistocene epoch. Sea level at the end of the Pleistocene epoch was about 40 metres (130 ft) lower than at present. By about 8,000 years Before Present (BP) sea level had risen to about 20 metres (66 ft) lower than at present. Because of the very gentle slope of the Florida platform, the ancient coastline was far to the west of the 20th Century coastline.

The lower sea levels of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs resulted in a drier climate, a lower water table, and little surface water in Florida. Often in landscapes dominated by karst systems, such as the land adjacent to Apalachee Bay, including the formerly dry land currently submerged under the bay, the only available fresh water was in sinkholes along dried-up riverbeds.

Many sites where people were present in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs have been found in the Big Bend region adjacent to Apalachee Bay, and particularly in sinkholes in the bed of the Aucilla River. Some of these sites show evidence of the presence of people in the late Pleistocene, even before the appearance of the Clovis culture (see Page-Ladson). The broad, shallow continental shelf under Apalachee Bay adjacent to a region with abundant archaeological sites led to the prediction that archaeological sites could be found on the formerly dry land that has since been submerged beneath the bay. Fifteen archaeological sites had been found on the seabed of Apalachee Bay by 1993.

The sea floor under Apalachee Bay was surveyed to identify now submerged river courses. Parts of the course of the Paleoaucilla, as well as fragments of possible ancient courses of other rivers were found, and sites with evidence of human activity have been found along them. Sites identified along the Paleoaucilla include the J&J Hunt Submerged Archaeological Site (8JE740), the Ontolo site (8JE1577) and Area 91-B (8JE781). Based on tools found and Radiocarbon dating, the J&J Hunt, Ontolo and Area 91-B sites were occupied from late in the Paleoindian period until the middle of the Archaic period.

West of the sites along the Paleoaucilla is the Fitch site (8JE739), on a channel that may be the Paleopinhook. (The Pinhook River is a short stream just to the west of the mouth of the Aucilla River.) The Fitch site is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the mouth of the Aucilla River and 17 feet (5.2 m) under water. The Fitch site may have been used as a chert quarry early in the Archaic period, before 7500 years BP.

The Econfina Channel site (8TA139) is an archaeological site on what may be the ancient channel of the Econfina River. It is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) offshore and under 2 to 5 metres (6.6 to 16.4 ft) of water. The site includes an area where stone tools were found and a shell midden, with a spring nearby. Radiocarbon dating of shells from the midden yielded dates of 4510 years BP +/- 461 years, and 2621 years BP +/- 423 years. The larger shell midden is on the south side of the paleochannel. It is about 30 metres (98 ft) long parallel to the paleochannel and about 20 metres (66 ft) across from the edge of the paleochannel into adjacent eelgrass beds, and is 0.5 to 1 metre (1.6 to 3.3 ft) thick. Additional shell middens up to 27 metres (89 ft) long have been found on the north side of the paleochannel. Putnam and Newnan points, which were used from 7000 to 5000 calibrated BP, have been recovered from the site. Radiocarbon dates for oyster shells in the middens range from 5500 to 3000 calibrated BP. The rising sea level submerged the site sometime after 4500 calibrated BP.

Ray Hole Spring (8TA171) is a site 19 miles (31 km) south of the Aucilla River in 35 feet (11 m) of water. The site was described as a sinkhole with a flowing spring in 1976. The hole appears to have been partially filled with debris since then, possibly as a result of turbulence from hurricanes that passed over Apalachee Bay. The site is associated with the “Ray Hole Trough”, part of the Paleoaucilla channel. A piece of southern live oak wood was found on the margin of the sinkhole at the bottom of a crevice under a lens of oyster shells. The wood was free of teredo worm damage, which indicates it was deposited in fresh water, likely in a hammock, and later covered by an oyster bed as the sea level rose. That sequence is supported by a radiocarbon date of 8220 BP for the wood, and 7440 BP for the oyster shells. Chert flakes that may be deteriorated debitage from tool manufacture were recoverd from the margins of the sinkhole. Two debitage flakes that are clearly the result of human work have also been found at the site.

Spanish period

Narváez expedition in 1528, Apalachee Bay.

Over the summer of 1528, the Narváez expedition camped near the shore of Apalachee Bay near an Apalachee village named Aute, thought to be near modern-day Wakulla Springs, Florida. The 250 remaining men in the expedition were forced to slaughter and eat their horses, and named the bay The Bay of Horses in commemoration. Pánfilo de Narváez oversaw the creation of five rafts composed of local lumber and constructed with improvised tools crafted from the harquebuses and swords that the party melted in a rudimentary forge. The party departed at the end of the summer.

After the Hernando de Soto expedition reached Apalachee in 1539, a scouting party sent to the south identified the Narváez camp on a large bay off of Apalachee Bay. The Narvaez camp may have been at the Marsh Island Mound (archaeological site 8WA1) on the Wakulla River, or the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge Cemetery site (8WA15) on the St. Marks River.

By 1637, Spanish ships were calling in Apalachee Bay to supply the missions in Apalachee Province. Amacano people, who may have been living along the coast of Apalachee Bay south or southeast of Apalachee Province in the late 1620s and the early 1630s, were living near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in 1637 when they guided Spanish ships to Apalachee Bay.

A mission was established in the town of Chaccabi near Apalachee Bay in 1674. The town was identified as Chine, with Amacano and Pacara people living there, as well. Chaccabi was on a small stream identified as "Rio Chachave" on Spanish maps, flowing into western Apalachee Bay, and probably was what is today known as Spring Creek. The town was not mentioned after 1675. After an enemy ship appeared off San Marcos in 1677, villages near Apalachee Bay were ordered to move inland.

In 1718, the Spanish established the Presidio San Marcos de Apalachee at the existing port of San Marcos near the mouth of the St. Marks River.

References

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