Summary

As I traveled through the Piedmont, I noticed the river had changed since leaving the mountains. I passed through rural farmland enjoying the sounds of animals and agriculture. It was a balance between the peacefulness of the river and the activity of population along its banks. All the lakes on the Upper Saluda are man-made. That meant carrying my kayak across many dams on the river beginning at Lake Greenwood State Park and ending at Lake Murray. Paddling the Piedmont, you can see man adapting the river to his needs all around you.

From the Piedmont we will head to the Sandhills and continue to observe how the earth shapes the waterways and the waterways shape the earth.

View the Webisode 2: In the Piedmont transcript

Wait! There's more...View the Piedmont chapter of the WOW documentary!
or View the entire documentary!

Landform

The word Piedmont is derived from a French word meaning "Foot of the Mountains." Although the South Carolina Piedmont certainly qualifies, it is only the northwestern portion that is technically at the foot of the mountains. The rest of the region stretches over 100 miles towards the southeast in a gradually sloping, mostly flat plain. The eastern boundary of the Piedmont region can be identified by drawing a line on the map from North Augusta on the Savannah River through Columbia and to the place where the Pee Dee River enters South Carolina.

The land surface is quite hilly in the higher elevations towards the northwest, but becomes more gently rolling at the lower elevations next to the Sandhills Region. Modern Piedmont rivers, usually wider and flowing more gently than Blue Ridge streams, are actively eroding into the Piedmont causing steep-walled valleys with locally high relief. Piedmont rivers often have dendritic (branching) drainage patterns and are usually full of suspended sediment transported from the mountains. Occasionally, this suspended sediment is temporarily deposited in wide flood plains which provide rich and very productive soil for agriculture. Between river valleys, the broad upland areas are essentially flat.

Occasionally, the relatively flat rolling topography is interrupted by deeply dissected stream valleys and a few scattered hills, called monadnocks. These are single mountains, typical of the Piedmont, left comparatively undisturbed by erosion. Monadnocks are usually surrounded by relatively flat ground and can therefore be seen from many miles away. Sometimes these hills are composed of harder rock which accounts for their greater resistance to erosion. In other cases, it seems to have been pure chance which has allowed them to escape erosion.

SC Maps Teaching Manual, 4th Edition (2000), section 3

Scavenger Hunt

Find the answers to these questions in Webisode 2: Piedmont!

1. What is detritus?

2. What is a lake in the Piedmont that provides hydroelectric power?

3. How many lakes along the Saluda are man-made?

4. Who is Laurens County named after? What is the significance of that?

5. What was the town of Ninety-Six named after?

Check your answers with the "Scavenger Hunt Master," found in the Resources section of the site! Teachers can use Ian's "Discussion Questions," with standards correlations, for further extension and enrichment - also in the site's Resources section!

Teachers

Look for South Carolina science standards correlations to Web of Water webisodes under "Teachers" and "Standards" in the Resources section of the site! You will also find Ian's "Discussion Questions" for extension and enrichment, also tied to the South Carolina science standards, in the Resources section of the site!

Here are some Web resources related to this webisode. Find Web resources to other webisodes on respective pages, or see them ALL under "Teachers" and "Web Links" in the Resources section of the site!

WATER CYCLE, WATERSHEDS, AND WATER SCIENCE
(ALL webisodes)

A 70-page .pdf from the Environmental Protection Agency containing in-depth examination of water resources, the water cycle, and more that includes lessons, conservation tips, worksheets, etc:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/students/pdfs/gndw_712.pdf

Water Source Books for grades k-12 from the Environmental Protection Agency:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/wsb/index.html

An entire unit on hydrology from the National Park Service about Wind Cave National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/wica/Hydrology_PDF.htm

Lessons and activities relating to groundwater:
http://www.groundwater.org/kc/kc.html

This “Models of the Water Cycle” set contains background information with activities and links to an interactive demo of the water cycle for grades 6-8:
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=11&DocID=8

This “Models of the Water Cycle” set contains background information with activities and links to an interactive demo of the water cycle for grades 3-5:
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=4&DocID=393

Lessons on hydrology surrounding Bryce Canyon National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/brca/forteachers/hydrology.htm

United States Geological Survey (USGS) site on “Water Science for Schools:”
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/

Create a model of a watershed with the following lesson:
http://sf-rocks.sfsu.edu/SFROCKS_Website/For_Teachers_files/WhenItRains.doc

Lesson dealing with issues relating to water conservation:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/waste-not-want-not/

Lesson materials to help teachers get students to start thinking about water usage; this can be used as a collaborative project in which students can share their results on the Web:
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/drainproj/index.html

Posters for United States Geological Survey (USGS) outreach, including ones on watersheds, water quality and water use:
http://water.usgs.gov/outreach/OutReach.html

A Discover Carolina lesson about drainage divides and watersheds that involves use of topographic maps:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s05nature09d01.pdf

A series of questions testing knowledge of watersheds:
http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/watershed/watershed2.html

Resources about ecosystems, including climate, food webs, biogeochemical cycles:
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/ecosystem.html

In-depth explanations of Earth’s cycles, including the water cycle:
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/cat_view.php?c3=&cid=22&l=&let1=

A grade 4 “Land and Water Unit Template” from the Delaware Department of Education:
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/ci/content_areas/files/science/4%20Land%20and%20Water%20Unit%20Template.pdf

ROCKS, MINERALS AND MINING/ NATURAL RESOURCES
(Piedmont, Sandhills)

A Discover Carolina lesson for 8th graders on identification of rocks and minerals based on physical properties:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s05nature09d02.html

An overview of the geologic composition of South Carolina, the geologic history of South Carolina, and a map of the “Mineral Resources of South Carolina” from SC Maps:
http://sciway2.net/2001/sc-geology/Overview_of_SC_Geology.htm

The Mining Association of South Carolina has an “Education” section:
http://www.scmines.com/

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Minerals Information Yearbook – Volume 1 shows in-depth information for specific metals and minerals:
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/myb/

Education resources from the Mineral Information Institute:
http://www.mii.org/

Images of minerals, organized alphabetically, from a “Mineralogy Database:”
http://webmineral.com/

Natural resources mined by county from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/geology/images/Mining-pg.pdf

A lesson on mining in South Carolina from SC Maps:
http://www.clemson.edu/scmaps/SCStudies/unit1/ALunit1Day5.doc

South Carolina mining data from SC Maps:
http://www.clemson.edu/scmaps/SCStudies/unit1/unit1Day5-countymine.doc

SC Maps lesson on gold mining in SC:
http://www.clemson.edu/scmaps/SCStudies/unit1/SSunit1Day3.doc

A diagram of the rock cycle from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/geology/images/Rock_cycle_POSTER.pdf

“The Study of the Earth” booklet is a publication of the Mineral Information Institute, which is full of lessons and activities about where natural resources come from, what they are used for, and how they can be found all around us:
http://www.knowitall.org/naturalstate/html/teacher_resources/lessonplans/StudyoftheEarth.pdf

“Everyday Uses of Minerals” from the Mineral Information Institute:
http://www.mii.org/pdfs/everyday.pdf

Lesson plans from the PBS American Field Guide with video resources about mountain building and the rock cycle:
http://www.pbs.org/americanfieldguide/teachers/rocks/rocks_sum.html#

An interactive rock cycle simulation from ExploreLearning:
http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspView&ResourceID=436&CFID=723466&CFTOKEN=83278373

United States Geological Survey (USGS) materials on rocks and minerals:
http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/rxmin/index.html

Rock cycle animation from Teacher’s Domain:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.rockcycle/

United States Geological Survey (USGS) activities for teaching "Schoolyard Geology:"
http://education.usgs.gov/schoolyard/index.html

AGRICULTURE
(Piedmont)

A Discover Carolina lesson from Kings Mountain State Park about farm life in the 1850’s that includes map reading exercises involving analysis of transportation systems and population:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s04history04a01.pdf

A .pdf of the South Carolina Commodities map from the South Carolina Farm Bureau’s Agriculture in the Classroom program:
http://www.scfb.org/UserFiles/scfb/Documents/commoditymap.pdf

Information about the “History of SC Agriculture” from the South Carolina Department of Agriculture:
https://agriculture.sc.gov/content.aspx?ContentID=735

A book about the Piedmont of South Carolina called “The Habits of Industry:”
http://books.google.com/books?id=tIJsQhud6D8C&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=agriculture+in+the+piedmont+of+south+carolina&source=bl&ots=vEytxtYN3_&sig=WfRYU6FsyLCd_kXmWNHj0aXSc7k&hl=en&ei=EuXoSdrEKKDFtgfMkpjEBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=20#PPP1,M1

A South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium lesson based on the article “African Roots, Carolina Gold:”
http://www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=136

A Discover Carolina series of lessons on rice culture in South Carolina from Hampton Plantation State Historic Site:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s04history103.html

A .pdf including lesson plans from the Chicora Foundation called “The Economic and Social History of Tobacco Production in South Carolina:”
http://chicora.org/pdfs/Tobacco.pdf

COLONIAL LIFE AND NATIVE AMERICANS
(Piedmont)

Learn about Colonial Life and Trade in this series of Discover Carolina lessons From Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s04history102.html

A lesson from Edsitement about “American Colonial Life in the Late 1700’s: Distant Cousins:”
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=411

A .pdf of resources about colonial life in America:
http://msdadmin.scican.net/tah/handouts/may/Colonial_Life_Websites.pdf

Lessons from the Library of Congress about life in the colonies, based on primary resources from the American Memory collections:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/tinker/index.html

A .pdf including lesson plans from the Chicora Foundation called “The First South Carolinians: The Life and Times of Native Peoples in the Palmetto State,” meant to accompany a traveling exhibit from the South Carolina State Museum:
http://chicora.org/pdfs/The%20First%20South%20Carolinians.pdf

An informative poster about Native American history of South Carolina that was used for South Carolina Archaeology Month:
http://coscapa.org/SC_2008_Poster.pdf

HYDROELECTRICITY and DAMS
(Piedmont)

Interactive diagram about how hydroelectricity works:
http://www.fwee.org/walk.html

Several animated illustrations of how water helps to generate power:
http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/waterpower/index.html

Information about dams, includes case studies and quizzes:
http://www.simscience.org/cracks/advanced/dams2.html

GROUPINGS OF RESOURCES
(Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Sandhills)

The Discover Carolina program curricula:
http://www.discovercarolina.com/html/s01overview.html

The SC Maps Teacher’s Manual:
http://www.cas.sc.edu/cege/resources/scmaps/scmaps_manual.html

Teacher resources from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), including PowerPoint presentations on rocks and minerals, weathering and erosion, natural disasters, landforms, plate tectonics, etc.:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/geology/Education.htm

NY Regents Exam Preparation Center on the Web for Earth Science; topics include composition of the earth, topographic mapping, rocks and minerals, weathering, erosion and deposition, as well as earthquakes and plate tectonics:
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/earthsci/earthsci.cfm

A page of Web links to resources about Earth processes:
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/gary/earth/web/earth.html

United States Geological Survey (USGS) science education resources with links to further resources for various grade ranges:
http://education.usgs.gov/

An interactive site about various aspects of ecology including lessons on water, streams and mountains, photosynthesis, forest ecosystems, adaptations of animals, co-adaptation of organisms, and more:
http://www.gfawesome.org/~flashVersion=true/school/lessons.html

Knowitall

Use RiverVenture.org to learn about how rivers are connected, and how we are all connected to them:

• Learn more about trade between Native Americans and European settlers from the Three Rivers module of RiverVenture.org. Look for information about Congaree Town, Old Fort Congaree, the Cherokee Path, the Town of Granby, and the Saxa Gotha Township.

• Learn about the canal era and its contribution to hydroelectricity, or find out more about natural resources like bricks and how they are made by investigating the brick kilns and the clay quarry in the Three Rivers module of RiverVenture.

Play Scoot at Knowitall.org to learn more about counties in South Carolina.

Find out more about natural resources used in art through Knowitall.org at A Natural State. See the teacher resources in A Natural State for supplementary materials, including Minerals Mined in South Carolina and Some of Their Uses.

Go to Periscope at in order to learn more about the Catawba and other Native Americans of South Carolina. At Periscope, look for the November back issue on Native American Heritage Month.