Since he was a nine year old boy peering into Florida’s Biscayne aquifer caves, Eric Hutcheson has been drawn to caverns, caves, and cave diving. After twelve months of repeatedly diving deep into Florida’s Silver Springs cave system, professional underwater cartographer Hutcheson and his team have managed to map huge sections of this subterranean geologic marvel. What did it take to map the world’s largest known artesian spring? As it turns out, not much more than some basic cave diving gear, plenty of knowledge, and a keen sense of adventure.
Mammoth Spring and Beyond
Silver Springs is a massive system that consists of at least sixteen springs including the main one, which is known as Mammoth Spring. All the underwater caves here are sculpted of stunning limestone that was once Florida’s seabed; like a time capsule, the structures and the geologic clues they contain are completely undisturbed and few people have seen them in entirety.
That’s partly because many of the openings are so narrow that even Hutcheson, who is a slender 5 foot, 5 inch tall man, had to remove his scuba cylinder and hold it in front of himself to squeeze through as he worked to map the springs. Dive partner Ken Peakman would wait on the other side as Hutcheson explored and mapped tight spaces most divers cannot enter.
The recent exploration wasn’t the first attempt at mapping the Silver Springs cave system. Over fifty years ago, diver Jack McEarchern, who was equipped with just a scuba tank, and who had no lighting or mapping equipment, managed to work his way into the spring for a distance of just about twenty feet, all the way into what he called “The fifth room.” Now 83 years old, McEarchern recalls seeing some fantastic things including a fossilized ivory tusk that was down a seven-foot shaft that was approximately the width of a 55-gallon drum; when he took off his tank and held it over his head to take a closer look, it became apparent that one mistake would lead to his demise, so he left the fossil in place and never re-entered that particular hole.
Hutcheson and his team rediscovered many of the same fossilized remains, along with wooly mammoth teeth and ancient Native American artifacts. But the quality of light that enters from above, along with the bubbling fissures and pristine white limestone are equally impressive. Divers and photographers who make their way into accessible portions of the Silver Springs system never fail to be awed.
Despite the fact that the team made their way through an astounding 2,263 feet of subterranean passages, they never entered the grand aquifer simply because it is too dangerous, with water rushing forcibly past, and with unstable structures, including a rapidly eroding ceiling. Says Hutcheson, “You get down there in front of this volume of fresh, pristine water pushing you forcibly. It can’t be stopped. There’s a lot of pressure from the water that is boiling out of the springs…as you’re moving through, the rocks move and block passages, and it becomes unsafe, which is why I stopped the exploration.”
Even though most divers including the most experienced cave and cavern divers will never make their way down into the Silver Springs system, Hutcheson’s team’s work is of great value. It revealed that this incredible spring, which is a popular topside attraction, isn’t just a hole in the ground – instead, it is a vast system of dozens of springs that are directly connected to the earth’s aquifer – and a direct connection to the area’s geologic history.