South Carolina Coastal Habitats

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1 South Carolina Coastal Habitats By C. Livingston, 2009

2 Earth Where is South Carolina? North America United States of America SC Here we are! South Carolina borders the Atlantic Ocean.

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

4 Quick Review of SC Regions Our state is divided into regions, starting at the mountains and going down to the coast.

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

6 Facts about the Blue Ridge Mountains... 1, The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian 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.

7 Greenville Spartanburg Union Greenwood Rock Hill Abbeville Piedmont Landform Regions

8 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.

9 Columbia, Our State Capitol Sandhills Landform Regions Do you wonder why the Sandhills are so sandy? They used to be the coastline of North America millions of years ago.

10 Facts About the Sandhills Region 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 line where the land slopes down and the rivers become waterfalls. 3. The Sandhills are hilly.

11 Aiken Orangeburg Sumter Florence 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.

12 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.

13 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.

14 Hilton Head Beaufort Charleston Georgetown Myrtle Beach Coastal Zone Landform Regions South Carolina has 185 miles of coastline.

15 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.

16 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 water from the ocean). where rivers meet

17 Estuaries include harbors bays inlets sounds

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19 Estuary

20 What is a wetland? A wetland is an area of gradual transition where land meets water.

21 Wetlands include swamps freshwater marshes saltwater marshes tidal mud flats lagoons beaches

22 Other coastal habitats include barrier islands maritime forest

23 Coastal Food Chain & Food Web

24 Coastal South Carolina Plants Phytoplankton Smooth Cordgrass Glasswort

25 More Coastal S.C. Plants Sabal Palmetto Live Oak Sea Oats

26 Coastal South Carolina Animals Zooplankton Lettered Olive Snail Horseshoe Crab Blue Crab Loggerhead Turtle

27 More Coastal S.C. Animals Diamondback Terrapin Periwinkle Snail Great Blue Heron Moon Snail

28 More S.C. Coastal Animals Bottlenose Dolphin Manatee American Alligator River Otter Diamondback Rattlesnake