A REVIEW OF THE GEOLOGIC AND GEOMORPHOLOGIC STUDIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S LOWER COASTAL PLAIN AND CONTINENTAL SHELF REGIONS WITH IMPLICATIONS TO THE FUTURE

This paper focuses on historical, modern, and future geological studies of the Middle Coastal Plain to the Outer Continental Shelf. The natural resources and climate records preserved beneath these areas have been the dominant driving force for investigating, mapping, and utilizing the resources found there. This includes understanding of hydrogeology, natural hazards (earthquakes, subsidence, flooding), resource availability (sands and minerals), climate, landscape dynamics, habitats, and our rich cultural heritage. The first people utilizing the resources in SC were indigenous tribes who quarried raw materials over 15kya and later found clay resources for use in pottery over 4.5kya. Historically, the near-surface materials have been used for buildings, roads, beaches, and other industrious purposes.

To better understand resource distributions in the historical period, different mapping products have been developed over time. The first geologically related map published for the entire state of SC was in 1843, 18 years after Wm Smith’s map. Since then, terrestrial maps have covered both small- and large-scale areas depending on interest and funds. Offshore, the first maps outlined the distribution of surface sediments and fossils, with the first true geological maps produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Over the last three decades, quadrangle-scale mapping and targeted research foci (e.g. sinkhole climate records) have led to more detailed investigations and maps, which will only continue. Future studies will follow offshore trends with large-scale mapping needs developed for focused resource identification, avoidance (for competitive uses, such as offshore energy), and extraction; hazards research; habitat preservation and restoration; refined hydrogeologic investigations; and understanding processes related to concentration of critical resources.