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Database for the Surficial Geologic Map of the Charleston Region, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina

October 26, 2022

This database portrays the surface and shallow subsurface geology of the greater Charleston, S.C. region east of 80 degrees 30' west and south of 33 degrees 15' north. The region covers the entirety of Charleston County and portions of Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties. Units locally exposed at the surface range in age from middle Eocene to Holocene, but most of the area is covered by Quaternary interglacial deposits. These are, from oldest to youngest, the Okefenokee, Waccamaw, Penholoway, Ladson, Ten Mile Hill, and Wando Formations and the Silver Bluff beds. Two cross sections (not included in the database), one running southeast from Harleyville to the coastline on James Island and the other running along the coastal barrier islands from the town of Edisto Beach to the northeast end of Bull Island at the southwest edge of Bull Bay, portray the complex geometry of the Paleogene and Neogene marine units that directly lie beneath the Quaternary units. These older units include the Santee Limestone, Tupelo Bay, Parkers Ferry, Ashley, Chandler Bridge, Edisto, Parachucla, and Marks Head Formations, the Goose Creek Limestone, and the Raysor Formation. The estimated locations of deeply buried active basement faults are shown which are responsible for ongoing modern seismicity in the Charleston, S.C. area.

Publication Year 2022
Title Database for the Surficial Geologic Map of the Charleston Region, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina
DOI 10.5066/P9HB0RFE
Authors Robert E. Weems, W.C. Lewis, Earl M. Lemon, Pete Chirico, Ernest A Crider
Product Type Data Release
Record Source USGS Digital Object Identifier Catalog
USGS Organization Florence Bascom Geoscience Center