Transcript South Carolina Geography - Anderson School District 5

• Contains 3,628,062
square miles
• 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico
• Approx. 6,000 miles of
coastline
• Major mountain chains:
the Appalachians, the
Rockies, and the
Cascades-Sierras
• Major bodies of water:
Great Lakes, St.
Lawrence River,
Mississippi River
• SC is divided into 6
geographical regions:
Coastal Zone, Outer
Coastal Plain, Inner
Coastal Plain,
Sandhill Region,
Piedmont, and Blue
Ridge.
• Stretches along the Atlantic Coast
• 185 miles long and reaches 10 miles into
the interior
• Divided into 3 sections:
– Grand Strand
– Santee Delta
– Barrier islands
• This is the largest landform region in the
state
• Divided into 2 section:
– Outer Coastal Plain: 30-50 miles wide, the
rivers in this region and rise and fall with the
tide, inland swamps and savannas. This is
where the rice and indigo was grown in
colonial times.
– Inner Coastal Plain: rich land for growing
cotton, 130-250 feet above sea level, contains
Carolina Bays’ contains the richest soil in SC
• Extends along the
Fall Zone
• Contains red soil
(clay); poor farm land
• Today, pine forests
and fruit orchards
grow successfully
here
• Includes Columbia
• Pied= foot; mont = mountain
• Piedmont means foot of the mountain or
foothills
• Contains nearly 1/3 of the state
• Has rapidly flowing rivers that have to
come down hill, so they were good for
hydroelectric factories
• Contains 500 square
miles of the Blue
Ridge Mountains
(near Greenville)
• Contains the highest
peak in SC, Sassafras
Mountain
• Also contains the
highest waterfall east
of the Mississippi
River, Whitewater
Falls
• There are 3 major river systems in SC
– Savannah River System (on the border
between SC and GA)
– Santee River System (middle of the state)
– Pee Dee River System (Northeast part of the
state)
• The Rivers in the Up Country are narrow and
swift
• At the fall zone, they become broad and carry
rich soil deposits
• SC has a humid, subtropical climate
– Long summers with temperatures close to
100 degrees
– Mild winters with temperatures rarely reaching
0 degrees
– Abundant rain; mostly in February and July
– Hurricanes affect this area: hurricane season
runs June 1- November 30, though SC
sometimes gets them in May and December
Use the smart board to label the 6
geographical region of SC
Piedmont
Inner
Coastal
Plain
Coastal
Zone
Blue Ridge Outer
Coastal
Plain
Sandhills
References
• http://z.about.com/d/geography/1/0/9/H/usa3.jpg (map of
the US on slide 3)
• http://www.remax.com/images/states/SC_Map.gif (map
of SC on slide 4)
• http://www.ncmountainlife.com/admin/editor_assets/Whit
ewater-Falls1.JPG (White Waterfalls on slide 10)
• http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/eos/geo41/wea046.gif
(The Sandhills on slide 8)
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/southcarol
ina/outline/ (outline of SC Map on slides 1 and 13)
• South Carolina Geography: The Coastal Plain
(United Streaming Video). (1988). SCETV.