Page 3 →2 Natural Landscape
For a small state, South Carolina has a very diverse natural setting. It includes six distinct landform regions, ranging from the mountainous topography of the Blue Ridge to the flat and almost featureless Outer Coastal Plain. Elevation ranges from 3,560 feet at Sassafras Mountain in Pickens County to sea level along the coast. Major river systems, the Savannah, ACE (Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto), Santee, and Pee Dee, follow the general slope of the land from northwest to southeast across the state. Distinctive landform features include Issaqueena Falls in the Blue Ridge, the monadnocks of the Piedmont, ocean dune remnants in the Sandhills, Carolina bays in the Coastal Plain, and barrier islands along the coast.
A Carolina bay is an elliptically shaped landform found between New Jersey and Florida, but they are most abundant in the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. Generally wet and named for the bay trees that surround them, some have been drained for agricultural use.
Page 4 →Landform Regions
Extended Description
The landform regions, from west to east: Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Sandhills, Inner Coastal Plain, Outer Coastal Plain, and Coastal Zone.
Landforms are often described by their relief, or differences in elevation, across space. Taken together, individual landform features such as mountains can be grouped into landform regions. Broad landform regions in the United States separate mountains from plateaus and highlands from plains. South Carolina consists of land within both the Appalachian Highlands and the Atlantic Plain.
Extended Description
The landform regions, from west to east: Pacific Mountain System, Intermontane Plateaus, Rocky Mountain System, Interior Plains, Interior Highlands, Laurentian Upland, Atlantic Plain, and Appalachian Highlands.
There are six landform regions in South Carolina. The Blue Ridge is mountainous and the Piedmont is rolling and hilly. The Sandhills mark the limit where the ocean once covered much of the state. The Fall Line (shown at right) is located here, where the harder rocks of the Upstate meet the softer rocks of the Lowcountry. The Inner Coastal Plain is hilly, while the Outer Coastal Plain is generally flat. The Coastal Zone contains beaches, islands, and other landform features shaped by the ocean.
Page 5 →Earthquakes
Most earthquakes occur at the boundary of tectonic plates. South Carolina is different, because the entire state is located within the North American Plate. Earthquakes in South Carolina are all intraplate earthquakes, often along ancient fault systems. These faults are modern lines of weakness that can respond to stress from many sources, such as reservoir-induced seismicity, where the weight of impounded water stresses faults, or from the uplift of the Appalachian Mountains. As the mountains erode over time, rocks once buried deep underground rise and may crack, and stress distributed within the tectonic plate may activate older faults. While earthquakes occur throughout the state, most occur in the Coastal Plain. Summerville in Dorchester County is one of the more seismically active areas in the eastern half of the country due to its many small earthquakes.
Fault Structures
Most earthquakes in South Carolina, like the recent outbreak near Elgin, are small (magnitude 3 or less). However, the area near Charleston is at a higher risk for larger earthquakes. In 1886, Charleston was the site of an earthquake with an estimated magnitude above 7. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Summerville. It caused over $23 million in damage, over 60 deaths, and was felt over 2 million square miles. Almost every house in Charleston was damaged to some degree. In fact, some homes as far away as Ohio and Kentucky were damaged.
Page 6 →Land Cover
Nearly two-thirds of the state’s land is covered by forest. The loblolly pine is the main tree you may see, but long leaf and slash pine are common in the Coastal Plain. Using land for agriculture is common in the Inner Coastal Plain and upper Piedmont. There are no large natural lakes in South Carolina but all major rivers, except the Pee Dee, have dams that created large reservoirs. Wetlands can be found throughout the state but most are located in the Coastal Zone and in the floodplains of major rivers. The spectacular old-growth bottomland hardwood forest found in the Congaree River floodplain includes some of the tallest trees in the eastern United States. South Carolina’s urban landscape expanded as its small compact cities began to suburbanize in the 1970s. This urban sprawl is most apparent along the interstate highways that radiate outward from the state’s major cities.
The state’s large forests have been important resources for its inhabitants. Products like pitch and tar were once used in the shipbuilding industry, while lumber has been used to make homes here for thousands of years. Much of the tree stock harvested today, as seen on this logging truck, is used in the paper industry.
Page 7 →Biodiversity and Conservation
South Carolina is rich in biodiversity because of its different ecosystems. This biodiversity can be seen in the many different kinds of animal and plant species living in the state’s forests, mountains, fields, and beaches. Some of the greatest concentrations of unique species occur in the state’s 40,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams and 4.5 million acres of wetlands. South Carolina’s biodiversity is huge with hundreds of species found here, extending far beyond the familiar palmetto tree and Carolina wren. For example, South Carolina is home to the world’s largest population of shoals spider lilies along the Catawba River. The map shows species whose populations are being monitored over time. Most counties have between 40 and 80 monitored species. South Carolina’s most recent wildlife action plan lists 493 animals and 332 plants as priority species for conservation monitoring. Many of these species are in decline.
This photo shows the Carolina heelsplitter (Lasmigona decorata), a species of mussel found in our waterways. It is classified as an endangered species and was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the 1980s. It is endemic to the Carolinas, meaning this species is not located anywhere else. With few remaining and threats of pollution and habitat loss, conservation efforts are focusing on protecting waterways and attempting to increase their population numbers.
Land Under Conservation Protection
Conservation managers can create protected lands to increase biodiversity over time. These include national and state parks, but can also include land managed by conservation trusts or private individuals. In South Carolina, 2.95 million acres of land (~15 percent of the land area) is protected.
Page 8 →Rivers, Lakes, and Bays
South Carolina has several large water bodies. These include Lakes Marion, Moultrie, and Murray, among others. Importantly, none of these lakes are natural. They were all created by people. Since the 1920s each has been used for power generation, water storage, and flood control. Many rivers criss-cross the state. Some, like the fast-moving Chattooga, support whitewater recreation. Others originate in forested swamps in the Coastal Plain and are known as “blackwater” rivers for their tea-colored water resulting from decayed vegetation.
At one and a half miles in length, the Saluda (Dreher Shoals) Dam at Lake Murray was the world’s largest earthen dam when completed in 1930. The dam provides hydroelectric power and the lake is used for recreational boating and fishing. Many homes and marinas dot the lake’s shoreline.
Page 9 →Climate Regions
Extended Description
The climate regions, from west to east: Dry Summer Subtropical, Highland, Middle Latitude Dry, Low Latitude Dry, Humid Continental, Humid Subtropical, and Tropical Wet and Dry.
Climate refers to the long-term average weather (precipitation, temperature) of an area. South Carolina is in the Humid Subtropical climate region, which generally has higher temperatures and relative humidity. However, climate controls such as the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean create variation across the state. The mountainous Upstate is generally wetter and cooler, while warmer ocean currents moderate winter temperatures in the Lowcountry. Climographs are graphs that show average temperature and precipitation for each month of the year in a specific location
Extended Description
The X-axis is labelled as Month and the left and right Y-axes are labelled as Temperature (Fahrenheit) and Precipitation (Inches), respectively.
Three climographs, one each from the Piedmont, Midlands, and Coastal Zone, are shown. Variation in precipitation between June and September increases as you move from the Piedmont to the Coastal Zone. The average daily temperature peaks around 80°F for each city during the summer. Similarly, each city has an average daily temperature drop between 41°F and 51°F during the coldest winter months of January and December.
Page 10 →Temperature and Precipitation
Average Annual Precipitation
Average Annual Maximum Temperature
Average Annual Temperature
Average Annual Minimum Temperature
Page 11 →Tornadoes
1984 OutbreakThe larger dots and connecting line represent an outbreak of 14 tornadoes in March 1984 resulting in 15 deaths and 448 injuries. The storms stretched from Abbeville and Anderson counties in the west to Marlboro and Horry counties in the east.
At least three tornado events have been recorded for every South Carolina county since 1960. South Carolina’s tornado season is most pronounced from March through June. Those four months account for 52 percent of all activity. Annual injuries, fatalities, and damages are highly variable from year to year. South Carolina ranks in the middle of all US states by number of tornadoes, fatalities, injuries, and damages.
In March 1984, a tornado damaged Northwood Village Shopping Plaza in Bennettsville, SC. This tornado was one of a series that swept across the Carolinas during the 1984 outbreak.
Page 12 →Hurricanes
Hurricanes are powerful tropical weather systems that are hundreds of miles across. Winds rotate around a center of low pressure known as the eye. Hurricanes usually develop over warm oceans just north and south of the equator. Hurricanes produce strong winds and large amounts of rain that result in flooding both in coastal and inland areas. The intensity and magnitude of hurricanes is expressed by the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. This scale is based on wind speed, central pressure, storm surge height, and damage potential. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 was responsible for more than $7 billion dollars in damage to the state. Most hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean occur between June 1 and November 30. August and September are peak hurricane activity months for South Carolina. As ocean water temperatures rise, warmer waters feed even more energy into tropical weather systems. Hurricanes are becoming more intense and are having worsening impacts like storm surge and rainfall.
Page 13 →Changing Environment
Greenhouse gas pollution is changing South Carolina’s environment, including temperature, precipitation and flooding, and sea level rise. Scientists take measurements and use chemistry and physics to understand our changing environment, and communicate their findings through reports and maps. These maps show how temperature is changing in our area over time, which can affect people, plants, and animals. For example, warmer temperatures at night lead to higher energy bills while an extremely hot day can cause illness or make working outdoors unsafe.