Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Surficial geologic map of the Charleston region, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina

July 10, 2014

This map portrays the surface and shallow subsurface geology of the greater Charleston, S.C. region east of 80°30′ west and south of 33°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, 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 2014
Title Surficial geologic map of the Charleston region, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina
DOI 10.3133/ofr20131030
Authors Robert E. Weems, William C. Lewis, Earl M. Lemon
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Open-File Report
Series Number 2013-1030
Index ID ofr20131030
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center