South Carolina Coastal Habitats

By C. Livingston, 2009

Where is South Carolina?

Here we are! South Carolina borders the Atlantic Ocean.

North America

United States of America

Earth

SC

Did you know?

South Carolina ranks 40th in physical size, and is one of the top 15states for biodiversity in plants and animals.

Quick Review of SC Regions

Our state is divided into regions, starting at the mountains and going down to the coast.

Blue Ridge MountainsLandform Regions

The Blue Ridge Mountain Region is only 2% of the South Carolina land mass.

Facts about the Blue Ridge Mountains . . .

1, The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of theAppalachian Mountain Range.

2. Many streams begin in the mountains.3. These are the oldest mountains in America.4. The Blue Ridge Mountains are folding

mountains.5. The Blue Ridge Region takes up only 2% of

South Carolina’s land mass.

Piedmont Landform RegionsGreenville Spartanburg Union Greenwood Rock Hill Abbeville

Facts about the Piedmont Region . . .

1.The Piedmont Region is the largest region of South Carolina.

2. The Piedmont Region is thought to be a large plateau (raised high land that is usually flat on the top).

3. The Piedmont is NOT flat, but is hilly.4. The word Piedmont means “foot of the

mountains”.

Sandhills

Do you wonder why the Sandhills are so sandy? They used to be the coastline of North America millions of years ago.

Columbia, Our State Capitol

Landform Regions

Facts About the Sandhills Region . . .

1. The Sandhills are made of sand and sand dunes from when this area was SC’s coastline millions of years ago.

2. The Sandhills are next to the fall linewhere the land slopes down and the rivers become waterfalls.

3. The Sandhills are hilly.

Coastal Plain Landform Regions

There is an Inner and Outer Coastal Plain. Can you see the dividing line? This area was once in the ocean millions of years ago.

Aiken Orangeburg Sumter Florence

Facts about The Coastal Plains…

1. The Coastal Plains are very wet.2. The Coastal Plains used to be under the ocean

millions of years ago.3. The Coastal Plains have savannahs, which are wild

grass prairies.4. The Coastal Plains have a lot of swamps and

marshlands.5. Because of sediment that settled in the ocean

millions of years ago over the Coastal Plains, there is a lot of Sedimentary Rock in this area.

6. The Coastal Plains are flat in most areas.

Did you know?

Geologists have learned that the coastal plain stair-steps down gradually with six flats and seven slopes. They believe that this happened as the ocean receded (moved backward) throughout thousands of years.

Coastal Zone Landform Regions

South Carolina has 185 miles of coastline.

Hilton Head Beaufort Charleston Georgetown Myrtle Beach

Facts about the Coastal Zone…

1. The Coastal Zone borders the Atlantic Ocean.

2. It has the most protected wetlands in the east coast.

3. It has estuaries, wetlands, beaches and barrier islands.

4. It has more square kilometers of salt marshes than any other state along the Atlantic coast.

What is an estuary?

An estuary is a partially enclosed body of water where two different bodies of water meet and mix (e.g. fresh water from rivers or streams and salt waterfrom the ocean).

…where rivers meet

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Estuaries include…

• harbors• bays • inlets• sounds

Estuary

What is a wetland?

A wetland is an area of gradual transition where land meets water.

Wetlands include…

• swamps• freshwater marshes• saltwater marshes• tidal mud flats• lagoons• beaches

Other coastal habitats include…

•barrier islands

•maritime forest

Coastal Food Chain & Food Web

Coastal South Carolina Plants

Phytoplankton Smooth Cordgrass Glasswort

More Coastal S.C. Plants

Sabal Palmetto Live Oak Sea Oats

Coastal South Carolina Animals

Horseshoe Crab Blue Crab Loggerhead Turtle

Zooplankton Lettered Olive Snail

More Coastal S.C. Animals

Diamondback Terrapin Periwinkle Snail Great Blue Heron

Moon Snail

More S.C. Coastal Animals

Bottlenose Dolphin Manatee American Alligator

River OtterDiamondbackRattlesnake