Summary
As we traveled away from the Fall Line and down the Congaree River toward Charleston we entered South Carolina's only national park, Congaree Swamp National Park, and explored the coastal floodplains. We spent time with an archaeologist in the Congaree, saw some amazing wildlife, and learned a lot about the ecosystems of the swamp. We also got a further education about the role American Indians in South Carolina history as we followed the river down to Santee National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is an important part of maintaining habitat for local animal species.View the Webisode 4: In the Coastal Plains transcript.
Wait! There's more...View the Coastal Plain chapter of the WOW documentary!
or View the entire documentary!
Landform
Looking at it in overview, the Coastal Plain seems to form a single homogeneous region, covering close to one half of the area of South Carolina. And if one includes the geologically related Coastal Zone and Sandhills regions, the total coverage exceeds 60% of the state. Most texts, however, break the Coastal Plain down into sub-regions based on differences in vegetation, land use, or topographic relief. Several of these sub-regions will be emphasized in other sections of this manual, but the overriding dividing factor, with the most influence on land use patterns, is the one based on elevation above sea level.A clear distinction can be made between the higher elevation Upper (or Inner) Coastal Plain and the lower elevation Lower (or Outer) Coastal Plain. A partially eroded terrace ridge, in places called the Orangeburg Scarp (Citronelle Escarpment), runs across the state and marks the approximate boundary between the two divisions. The Upper Coastal Plain resembles in many ways parts of the Piedmont and Sandhills, as the topography is rather hilly in places, and the landscape is heavily dissected by stream erosion. Elevations vary from 300 feet near the Sandhills to about 125 feet at the Orangeburg Scarp. The width of this sub-region varies from 10 to 40 miles. Local topographic relief is usually measured in tens of feet, and slopes range from gentle in the southeastern border area to moderate along the Sandhills boundary.
The much flatter and almost featureless Lower Coastal Plain slopes gradually towards the ocean in a series of at least seven steps or terraces, separated by escarpments which reflect temporary sea level positions throughout relatively recent (Pliocene and Pleistocene) geologic time. An additional escarpment is currently forming along the present-day sea level position. Elevations range from 125 feet to near sea level, and local topographic relief is seldom more than 20 feet. The nearly level modern plain is characterized by a large number of meandering streams and rivers with broad floodplains.
A surprisingly wide variety of landscape features can be found in the Coastal Plain region, an area not usually given much credit for spectacular scenery. Many of these diverse landforms are only visible up close as they tend to blend in with the predominately flat terrain and dense vegetation characteristic of most of the region. Most of these landforms have features which reveal the particular environment in which they were formed. For example, wide, level plains mark former sandy ocean bottom shelf deposits; low, linear hills and adjacent depressions imply ancient barrier island deposits and adjacent marshes; gravel deposits on top of low hills mark locations of former river beds; and rapid drops in elevation (escarpments) indicate positions of former shorelines where wave scour eroded into older terraces. These boundaries are particularly easy to recognize, as they outline broad, nearly flat depositional surfaces which tilt slightly towards the Atlantic Ocean and create a series of landform belts roughly parallel to the present coastline.
SC Maps Teaching Manual, 4th Edition (2000), section 5
Scavenger Hunt
Find the answers to these questions in Webisode 4: Coastal Plain!1. What an area between 2 habitats called, i.e., where the upland pines stop and the hardwoods start?
2. What “Black Warrior” defeated the Spanish Explorers in the New World?
3. What was the Santee Indian Mound used for?
4. Name a species of bird once native to South Carolina that is now extinct.
5. What is a benefit to landscaping with native plants?
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
WEATHERING, EROSION AND DEPOSITION
(Blue Ridge, Coastal Plain)
An animation that demonstrates the formation of waterfalls and the effects of erosion:
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1305/es1305page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization
Activities for grades K-4 that demonstrate water erosion and other forms of natural erosion:
http://www.youth.net/cec/cecsci/cecsci.03.txt
More activities that demonstrate water and wind erosion, with substantial background information:
http://www.utm.edu/departments/cece/old_site/seventh/7J2.shtml
Experiments to compare the variables of ground cover and changes in slope to understand erosion control:
http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/education/lessons/act15.htm
A series of fully supported activities to demonstrate weathering and erosion:
http://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/jesei/weather/teachers.pdf
Lessons for middle grades that distinguish types of weathering and erosion, while examining the origins and roles of soils; also includes discussion of glacial erosion and deposition:
http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/pcook/unitplans/docs/erosion_and_deposition.doc
A “Sediment Deposition Lab:”
http://minerva.union.edu/hollochk/pedagogy/files/jg1.pdf
A series of videos and animations illustrating “Processes of River Erosion, Transport, and Deposition:”
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/geomorph/visualizations/erosion_deposition.html
FOSSILS
(Coastal Plain)
SC Maps lesson relating to “Coastal Plain Fossils and Mineral Resources:”
http://www.ces.clemson.edu/geolk12/SCStudies/unit5/SCunit5Day3.doc
United States Geological Survey (USGS) activities teaching "Schoolyard Geology" with resources about fossils:
http://education.usgs.gov/schoolyard/index.html
NATIVE VS. INVASIVE SPECIES
(Coastal Plain)
Suggested resources from the South Carolina Native Plant Society on native plants, invasive plants, and conservation, including sites for gardens and heritage preserves:
http://www.scnps.org/links.html
The South Carolina Plant Atlas provides distribution maps and images of species, based on an alphabetical listing of scientific names:
http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/acmoore/scplantatlas.html
Publications from the South Carolina Exotic Pest Plant Council for help with plant identification and control:
http://www.se-eppc.org/publications.cfm
National Park Service’s Alien Plant Working Group from the Plant Conservation Alliance links to information about all manner of plants in the upper right-hand corner of the screen under “Fact Sheet Links:”
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pumo1.htm
A brief and informative .pdf on invasive plants from the National Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/whatis.pdf
South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium lesson based on the article “Knocking back Biological Invaders:”
http://www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=188
A curriculum about ecosystems and native species versus invasive species, developed by the National Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/invspcurr/aliencurriculum.htm
An extensive lesson on monitoring invasive species:
http://biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/lessons2/Carpenter/Overview.htm
CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION
(Coastal Plain)
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Rare, Threatened, & Endangered Species Inventory:
https://www.dnr.sc.gov/pls/heritage/county_species.select_county_map
South Carolina Heritage Preserves, organized alphabetically:
https://www.dnr.sc.gov/mlands/heritage
Summaries about “Extinct and Endangered Birds,” including the Carolina Parakeet, Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Passenger Pigeon and more:
http://www.marcschlossman.com/downloads/EXTINCTION_captions.pdf
South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium lesson based on the article “Exploring Early Carolina’s Natural Riches,” about early colonial naturalists and the theory of natural selection:
http://www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=373
Backyard conservation tips on a number of topics, including water conservation, cultivating a backyard habitat, creating a backyard pond or wetland, pest management, tree planting, and more:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/index.html
Knowitall
Use RiverVenture.org to learn about how rivers are connected, and how we are all connected to them:• Learn more about erosion and deposition in the Carrick Creek module of RiverVenture.org.
• At the Estuary Module of RiverVenture, learn about the sensitive salt marsh ecosystem and issues relating to pollution.
Go to Periscope at Knowitall.org 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.