Etonia Creek, also known as Etoniah Creek, is a stream in
Putnam and
Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
counties in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. It is the major tributary of
Rice Creek, which is a tributary of the
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
. The upper or western part () of the stream's basin, the Upper Etonia Creek Basin, contains about 100 lakes. Many of those lakes do not have outflowing streams. On leaving its upper basin, Etonia Creek flows eastward, and then southeastward to its juncture with Rice Creek.
Upper basin
The Upper Etonia Creek Basin (UECB) is a region of sand hills rising to above sea level. Small portions of the basin extend into
Alachua and
Bradford counties. The peaks of the hills are as much as above the lakes they adjoin. Blue Pond, in the northwest corner of the basin, is the highest of the lakes in the basin, at above sea level. Lake Grandin, at the southeast corner of the upper basin, is the lowest, at . While the surface level of some lakes is relatively stable, other lakes have had surface levels vary by as much as over a period of three or four years. The surface level of Pebble Lake varied by between 1948 and 1956.
The underlying structure of the region is
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
with
karst features providing underground connections between lakes and with the
Floridian aquifer. The lakes in the UECB have formed in
solution depressions in the limestone. Most of the lakes are small, with a surface area of less than . The highest lakes in the UECB, and the head of the Etonia Creek basin, form a chain. From Blue Pond, at an elevation of , streams, some permanent and some intermittent, connect Sand Hill Lake, Magnolia Lake, Brooklyn Lake, Lake Keystone, Lake Geneva, Oldfield Pond, and Halfmoon Lake before reaching Putnam Prairie, also known as Wall Pond, above sea level. Putnam Prairie drains into Goodson Prairie, from which Etonia Creek arises. Another chain of lakes starts at Melrose Lake, draining through Lake Rowan, Lake Suggs, Twomile Pond, Ross Lake, Goose Lake and Ashley Prairie, joining the Blue Pond chain at Putnam Prairie,
Lower basin
After leaving the upper basin north of
Florahome, Etonia Creek flows eastward and then northeastward through
Etoniah State Forest. Northeast of the state forest, Etonia Creek passes eastward through the Etoniah Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA), where it is joined from the north by Falling Branch, which flows out of George's Lake. While still in the WMA, the creek is next joined from the north by a tributary named Rice Creek (distinct from the Rice Creek that Etonia Creek joins near Palatka). Etonia Creek then flows southwestward until it is joined from the north by Simms Creek, about upstream from its juncture with Rice Creek (the tributary of the St. Johns River).
Notes
References
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Rivers of Florida
North Florida
Bodies of water of Clay County, Florida
Bodies of water of Putnam County, Florida
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