Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

Research about Georgia, South Carolina

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Georgia, South Carolina.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Map showing distribution of small-scale deformation structures in a part of the upper coastal plain of South Carolina and adjacent Georgia

As a contribution to the assessment of neotectonics in the area of the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, field traverses were made between Columbia, S.C., and Augusta, Ga., in 1975 and early 1976 in order to locate and describe small-scale deformation structures within exposed Coastal Plain rocks. The study covered most of the area between the Fall Line (northwest margin of the Coastal Plain) and the Orangeburg (Citronelle) escarpment (fig. 1). Fieldwork was done principally by vehicle along roads, but also included railroad cuts and excavation sites, such as quarries and landfills. Natural exposures are rare and provided no examples of deformation structures for this study. The geologic units exposed in the area are chiefly clastic sediments deposited in nearshore marine to continental environments. They include semi-consolidated sand, silt, clay, and rare thin impure limestone beds of Late Cretaceous to Eocene age (fig. 2). These sedimentary beds generally have a gentle regional dip to the southeast (Faye and Prowell, 1982, p. 6).

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Effects of Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic faulting on the geology and hydrology of the coastal plain near the Savannah River, Georgia and South Carolina

Geologic and hydrologic investigations by the U.S. Geological Survey have defined stratigraphic and hydraulic anomalies suggestive of faulting within Coastal Plain sediments between the Ogeechee River in east-central Georgia and the Edisto River in west-central South Carolina. Examination of borehole cuttings, cores, and geophysical logs from test wells indicate that Triassic rocks and Upper Cretaceous and lower Tertiary Coastal Plain sediments near the Barnwell-Allendale County line near Millett, South Carolina, are offset by a northeast-trending fault downthrown to the northwest. The location of this suspected Coastal Plain fault generally coincides with the location of an inferred fault in basement rocks as interpreted from aeromagnetic surveys. Apparent vertical offsets range from about 700 feet at the base of Upper Cretaceous sediments to about 20 feet in strata of Late Eocene age. As a result, the Upper Cretaceous Middendorf Formation which directly overlies crystalline and Triassic rocks updip (northwest) of this fault, is absent immediately downdip of the fault. The thickness of Tipper Cretaceous sediments is also sharply reduced from about 700 feet to about 180 feet across the fault. Sediments of the basal Coastal Plain aquifer are largely truncated by uplifted Triassic rocks at the fault near Millett, South Carolina. Lateral ground-water flow near the Savannah River Is consequently disrupted updip of the fault and ground water is transferred vertically into overlying sediments and possibly into the Savannah River. At several locations, abrupt changes in potentiometric head occur across this fault. Computed transmissivity of the basal Coastal Plain aquifer is also radically reduced downdip of the fault, sharply reversing a downdip trend of rapidly increasing aquifer transmissivity. Other anomalous potentiometric data along a northeast-trending line between Statesboro, Georgia, and Fairfax, South Carolina, suggest the possibility of similar faulting in correlative geologic units. The location of the suspected fault near Statesboro, Georgia, generally coincides with the eastward extension of the Gulf Trough, a regional potentiometric anomaly in central Georgia.

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Vertical crustal movements in the Charleston, South Carolina-Savannah, Georgia area

First-order vertical level surveys (National Geodetic Survey) repeated between 1955 and 1975 suggest that modern vertical crustal movements have taken place in the Atlantic Coastal Plain between Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. The relative sense of these movements correlates with the sense of displacement of Tertiary strata on known geologic structures. Whereas regional dip of strata in most of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is southeasterly, the regional dip of Tertiary strata in this part of the Coastal Plain averages 2 m/km to the south or southwest. Positive structural features disturb this regional dip along a poorly defined zone, about 25 km wide, parallel to the coast between Savannah and Charleston. Structural relief on these features is as much as 20 m. Repeated level lines that cross the Atlantic Coastal Plain elsewhere generally show an increase in modern relative subsidence from west to east. However, in the Charleston—Savannah area, the amount of relative subsidence remains fairly constant or decreases from west to east across the structural highs. At two localities near Charleston, where Tertiary beds are offset by faults roughly on strike with one another, an abrupt break in a repeated level line occurs where the level line crosses the probable extensions of these faults. The average modern rates of relative uplift and subsidence (assuming they are constant) are compatible with rates noted throughout the Coastal Plain. Long-term extrapolation of modern rates appears unreasonable; episodic or oscillatory movements are much more likely.

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Middle Miocene marine diatoms from the Hawthorn Formation within the Ridgeland Trough, South Carolina and Georgia

Diatomaceous sediments in outcrops of the Miocene Hawthorn Formation at Dawsons Landing in South Carolina and at Berrys Landing in Georgia, have yielded a total of 111 marine diatom taxa. Varving of the diatomaceous clay suggests that the diatoms were deposited in a restricted basin or lagoonal area that had oxygen-deficient bottom waters. The Middle Miocene diatom assemblage of the Hawthorn is correlative with that of approximately the upper half of Miocene Lithologic Unit 16 of the Choptank Formation in the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland and with the Serravallian Stage.

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Evaluation of the geologic and hydrologic factors related to the waste-storage potential of Mesozoic aquifers in the southern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, South Carolina and Georgia

The report describes the subsurface distribution of rocks of Cretaceous to Late Jurassic( ) age in the Atlantic Coastal Plain , South Carolina, and Georgia, and examines their potential for deep-well waste storage into th part of the regional sediment mass which lies below the deepest zones containing usable ground waters. For the study, usable ground water is considered to be that which contains less than 10,000 mg/L dissolved solids. Using a group of geohydrologic parameters derived from or combining 21 categories of basic data, established from study and interpretation of well cuttings and geophysical logs, a series of 32 regional maps and 8 stratigraphic cross sections was constructed. For each of the eight geologic units delineated in the subsurface, the maps illustrate the distribution of waste-storage potential in terms of areal extent, depth below land surface, sand-shale geometry, and the approximate sodium chloride concentration of a unit 's nonusable ground water. In areas where the geologic units contain nonusable ground water, the depth below land surface and the thickness of potential waste-storage reservoir and reservoir-seal combinations are variable. The range in variability appears to be broad enough to meet the need for a wide choice among the geologic requirements that would normally be considered in selecting specific waste-storage sites for detailed examination. (Woodard-USGS)

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Evaluation of the geologic and hydrologic factors related to the waste-storage potential of Mesozoic aquifers in the southern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, South Carolina and Georgia

This report describes the subsurface distribution of rocks of Cretaceous to Late Jurassic(?) age in the Atlantic. Coastal Plain, South Carolina and Georgia, and examines their potential for deep-well waste storage. For mapping purposes a waste-storage "operational unit" is established and defined. It is a sand or sandstone layer, 20 feet or more in thickness, that is immediately overlain and underlain by a layer of shale or clay, 20 feet or more in thickness, and which occurs in regional chronostratigraphic units (Units A, B, C, D, E, F, G(?), and H(?)) of Mesozoic age in areas where each of these units contains nonusable ground water. Nonusable ground water is defined as water that contains sodium chloride in excess of 10,000 mg/L. Using a group of geohydrologic parameters derived from or combining 21 categories of basic data, established from study and interpretation of well cuttings and geophysical logs, a series of 32 regional maps and 8 stratigraphic cross sections was constructed. For each of the eight geologic units delineated in the subsurface, the maps illustrate the distribution of waste-storage potential in terms of areal extent, depth below land surface, sand-shale geometry, and the approximate sodium chloride concentration of a unit's nonusable ground water.

Georgia, South Carolina↗

Ground radioactivity measurements in South Carolina and Georgia with radioelement analyses of surficial sediments

Recently published aeroradioactivity maps of parts of the South Carolina and Georgia Coastal Plain, have defined numerous areas of anowlously high total gamma ray intensity (Coastal Plain Regional Commission and U.S. Geological Survey, 1975, Aeroradioactivity maps of parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina: U.S. Geol. Survey Open-file Report 75-400, 1:250,000, 15 pls.). During the present study, areas in South Carolina and Georgia having high total gamma aeroradioactivity were sampled in one of two ways. Individual samples labeled "Georgia grab samples", "Columbia grab samples", and "Frogmore samples" were each collected as close as possible to the center of aeroradioactivity highs. Groups of samples labeled St. Matthews, Tillman, Gray's Hill, Route 99, Route 196, and Route 276 were collected by sampling along existing roads that transect aeroradioactivity highs. At each sample location five to ten pound samples were taken from the top two-to-three inches of sediment. The samples were dried, split, and analysed for uranium, thorium, and potassium by gamma-ray spectrometry. In the accompanying table uranium contents are presented as RAEU (radium equivalent uranium) in parts per million (ppm). Thorium is presented in parts per million (ppm) and potassium in percentage (pct). Ground counts of total gamma intensity were taken in the field with a McPhar IV four-channel scintillometer. Gamma ray intensity is presented as counts per minute (cpm) averaged over ten second intervals. More samples and ground radioactivity measurements were taken than are presented in the following table. Only those samples that were analysed for radioelements are listed. Collection of the "Georgia grab samples" was a joint effort of the Georgia Geologic and Water Division and the U.S. Geological Survey. Brenda B. Higgins, John Hack, Isidore Zeitz and Robert Schmidt provided useful discussions concerning the selection of areas to be sampled.

Georgia, South Carolina↗

ALVIN dives on the continental margin off the southeastern United States

In late June and July, 1967, the Deep Submergence Research Vehicle (DSRV) ALVIN, aboard its mother snip, LULU, proceeded from the spring base of operations, Nassau, to its home port of Woods Hole. During this trip, from July 2 to July 14, a series of five dives were made by ALVIN on the Blake Plateau off Georgia and South Carolina, and on the continental slope north of Cape Hatteras.

Georgia, South Carolina↗