Geography of SC. One of the four elements of History Pages 1-4

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Geography of SC. One of the four elements of History Pages 1-4"

Zoe Shields
7 years ago
Views:

1 Geography of SC One of the four elements of History Pages 1-4

2 The Theory of Continental Drift 3 billion years ago the land thqt became North America first appeared ot of the sea Movement of tectonic plates below the earth s surface then became part of one huge continent known as Pangaea. When North America collided with the coast of West Africa about a billion years ago the Appalachian Mountains arose. **Pangaea: An ancient huge continent

3 Did You Know? Ancient oceans covered parts of SC all the way up to the midlands? Shells and fossils of sea animals have been found in the Midlands (Columbia Area). The Coastal Plain is rich in phosphates as a result of the land being covered by the ocean. The Appalachian Mountains are smoother and more rounded because they are older than the mountains in the western part of North America?

Did You Know? Two of our inland lakes, Marion and Moultrie, are among the world s largest man made lakes. In SC, we have many monadnocks. (don t know what they are?

4 Did You Know? Two of our inland lakes, Marion and Moultrie, are among the world s largest man made lakes. In SC, we have many monadnocks. (don t know what they are?...first one to me with the correct answer wins a free homework pass) The word piedmont means foothill or foot of the mountain.(remember this, you will hear it again)

5 SC Geography (cont.) Brevard Zone: When North America collided with West Africa, the Piedmont joined North America at the point where the Appalachian Mountanins began to rise. The two land masses joined at a fault line known as the Brevard Zone.

6 Assignment Using the handout and the map on page 4 of your text book, label the 6 major regions of South Carolina. Be sure you create a key which denotes the colors of each area. Label each area as well. ree_five/units/regions/regions.htm Upon completion, place the map in your SC Portfolio. You will need this map for our culminating project.

Geography Part II Pages 4-10 The first dinosaur fossils in SC were found in Williamsburg County in 1986.

7 Geography Part II Pages 4-10 The first dinosaur fossils in SC were found in Williamsburg County in They were two teeth of the hadrosaur, a planteating duck billed dinosaur that lived all over the United States. In 1992 and 1994 fossils of the theropod, a meat-eating dinosaur, were found in Florence County.

8 Assignment On your county map, label any items of interest that we discuss in class. For example, put the names of the two dinosaur fossils we have just discussed. Put in the 6 regions. Label the Fall Zone Place the map in your notebooks so that as we continue, you may add to your maps.

9 Present Day SC Location: Southern Atlantic coast. Occupies 31,055 square miles. Ranks 40 th in size among the fifty states. Geographically split into two broad areas by the fall zone. This is an area that divides the state into the Up and Low Country. It stretches across South Carolina through the Sandhills from the Savannah River, near Aiken, through Columbia to Cheraw at the North Carolina border. **** Use your county map to denote the fall zone. Check with your neighbor to see if you are in agreement.

10 Present Day (cont.) Coastal Zone Six Regions of SC Stretches along the Atlantic coast. About 185 miles long and reaches ten miles into the interior. Divided into three sections: a. Grand Strand: broad, sandy beaches, begins at the NC border and ends sixty miles to the southwest at Winyah Bay.

12 Regions of SC (cont.) b. Santee Delta: South of Winyah Bay to Bull s Bay, the largest delta on the east coast, built up by sediment brought down the coastal rivers from the interior.

13 Santee Delta

14 Coastal Zone (cont.) c. Barrier Islands: from Bull s Bay to the Savannah River, low sandy islands which protect the coast from the stormy Atlantic. Once the site of rich plantations that grew seaisland, or long-staple, cotton. On the mainland, salt marshes and streams yield an abundance of seafood.

15 Coastal Zone (cont.) d. Coastal Plain: the largest landform region in the state and can be divided into the Outer and Inner Coastal Plain. 1. Outer Coastal Plain (Lower Pine Belt) miles wide. Rivers in this region rise and fall with the tide. There are dark inland swamps and savannas (areas of flat land without trees.) Great rice and indigo plantations once flourished. 2. Inner Coastal Plain (Upper Pine Belt feet above sea level. Rich bottom lands where cotton plantations developed after the American Revolution. The Congaree River southeast of Columbia is one of the largest tracts of original forests in the country. Some of the tallest trees east of the Mississippe River grow there. Congaree National Park (22,000 acres) is the only national park in SC. (Virtual tour using Atlas CD) **Carolina Bays: Oval depressions in the soil, they look like swamps surrounded by trees. The smallest bays are four to five acres in size. BIG Swamp in Manchester State Forest is the largest with several thousand acres.

17 Geography of SC pages 8-9 The Sandhill Region: Extends along the fall zone. Has red hills to the south and sandhills to the north. George Washington rode through the Sandhills between Columbia and Camden and said the are was the most miserable pine barren he had ever seen. In 1940 s poor farmers lived there. Many had dietary diseases and ate clay or sand. They were known as clay eaters or sandlappers. Today pine forests and fruit orchards grow in the area.

18 SC Geography Pages 8-9 The Piedmont: Takes up nearly one third of the state. Covered with forests or fields of Up Country cotton plantations. Creeks and rivers of the region provided waterpower for the textile industry that grew up in the state after the Civil War.

19 Geography SC History pages 8-9 The Blue Ridge: (sometimes called Alpine Region) Approximately 500 square miles of Blue Ridge Mountains and valleys. Highest peak in SC is Sassafras Mountain in Pickens County. Whitewater Falls, in Oconee County, is the highest waterfall east of the Mississipp River.

20 SC Geography The River Systems Savannah River system: drains into the Savannah river on the Georgia border. Santee River System: Located in the center of the state. Is the largest in the state. Pee Dee River System: Located in the northeast. ***These rivers form in the mountains and flow southeast across the state. Upcountry they fall quickly from the hills into the valleys. At the fall zone they become broad and sluggish. They carry rich soil and deposit it along the river banks

21 Rivers (cont.) Black Water Rivers: carry very little sediment, and the color comes from a high tannic-acid content. a. Black River b. Combahee c. Edisto River

22 Assignment: Label your map: Rivers of SC. Make sure that you label the following rivers: Santee, Black, Combahee, Congaree, Great PeeDee, Waccamaw, and the Savannah Rivers. On the side of your map list the three Major Rivers of SC.

23 Climate of SC Temperate Climate: Experience four seasons. (humid and subtropical) Rais is most abundant in February and July and August. Hurricanes sweep coastal ares in the late summer and early fall. June through September is considered the Hurricane Season Great Sea Island Storm struck Savannah, Beaufort and the barrier island (Charleston) and killed 2,000. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 killed 17 people and left 65,000 people homeless. Over $5 billioin in property damages.

Mountains lie in part of which three South Carolina counties? South Carolina s mountains are known by what collective name?

WEEK SIX Mountains lie in part of which three South Carolina counties? South Carolina s mountains are known by what collective name? The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of which chain of mountains that extends