FAQs about Physical Geography of Florida

The Physical Features of Florida are the Florida Peninsula, the Coastal Plain, the Florida Keys, the Everglades, the numerous lakes and rivers as well as the many types of wetlands, the beaches and the many barrier islands that are found in the state. There are also many low lying uplands made of limestone. In the western part of the state is the Gulf of Mexico and in the eastern part is the Atlantic Ocean.
As depicted on the physical map of Florida, the state consists of a large portion of relatively flat terrain that is underlain by limestone. There are higher rolling uplands found in northern Florida and parts of central Florida. Overall, Florida is depicted as a low-lying peninsula within the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Britton Hill, the highest natural point in Florida, is 345 feet above sea level. It is in the state of Florida, in the county of Walton, within the Florida Panhandle. This makes the high point in the lowest state in the country.
Major rivers in Florida include the St. Johns River, the Suwannee River, the Apalachicola River, the Kissimmee River, the Caloosahatchee River, the Peace River, and the Withlacoochee River. Major lakes in Florida include Lake Okeechobee, Lake George, Lake Kissimmee, Lake Apopka, Lake Tohopekaliga (also referred to as Lake “O”), and Lake Istokpoga. Lake Okeechobee is the largest of the lakes covering an area of approximately 730 square miles of freshwater.
The state can be geographically organized by several of the state's physical regions. These regions include the Panhandle, northern uplands, central ridges and uplands, the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Everglades and South Florida wetlands, and the Florida Keys.
Because Florida is a low lying state, on a limestone platform, that has changed with the up and down of sea levels, for the most part it is very flat. The greatest elevation in the state is only a few hundred feet above sea level, with most of South Florida sitting only a few feet above sea level. The flatness of the state has a large impact on the way of life of Floridians, and on the way in which water in the state can drain. The formation of lakes in Florida is greatly affected by the same factors that affect the drainage of the state’s water.
The Everglades. It is a wetland area of unique proportions. This area, where water once flowed from Lake Okeechobee in the center of the Everglades down through the shallow and wide landscape of the Everglades to drain into Florida Bay, now supports a vast array of plant and animal life that reside in the Everglades as well as traveling through in search of food and suitable breeding grounds. There are many different types of habitats found in the Everglades, including sawgrass marshes, sloughs, and mangrove habitats.
The Florida Keys, in southern Florida, are a low-lying island chain extending from the southern tip of the Florida Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The Keys are made up of a chain of ancient coral reefs that have risen above the sea level as it has dropped over time. Today, the Keys act as a boundary between Florida Bay in the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida, which separate the mainland from the Atlantic Ocean.