Cave water temp. avg at 120ft is 56.25f. How deep would 54.8f water be coming from?

Question

We are masureing cave stream flow,air temp&water temp.We had a rain event and the water temp. in cave droped from 56.25 to 54.8f. If there is a undergrounder stream upstream how deep would it be from the surface avg. to have water tempture of 54.8f?

The water depth rose from 1.25ft to 2.15ft. I am aware of side passages but don't think them would account for that much water. The end of this cave has not been found.

Answer 1

Most likely colder water is coming from the surface and reflects the temperature of the atmoshpere or shallow ground at the time of the rainfall. With that amount of increase in level, I would suspect rainwater is pouring in directly through at least one sinkhole in the area. Just curious, have you checked the sediment load of the cave water, or was there turbidity after the rain event?