.S. Department of the Interior a U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey

Programs in South Carolina

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 

provides Earth-science information to help 

manage our natural resources. This Fact 

Sheet describes some USGS activities in 

South Carolina.

Potential for Gold Discoveries

Production of gold was important in 

South Carolina during the 1800's and it is 

again contributing to the State's economic 

growth as a result of the opening of four 

gold mines (Brewer, Haile, Ridgeway, and 

Barite Hill) in the last decade. To support 

and help sustain this economic growth, the 

USGS has applied its geological and 

geochemical expertise to investigations of 

the gold deposits and their geologic setting 

in rocks of the Carolina slate belt (fig. 1). 

These studies provide information to evaluate the potential for discovery of new 

deposits. Preliminary reports on issues of 

special interest for exploration, or that 

address environmental concerns, are 

released as soon as information is available.

Topographic Mapping

Among the most popular and versatile 

products of the USGS are its 1:24,000- scale 

topographic maps (1 inch on the map represents 2,000 feet on the ground). These maps 

depict basic natural and cultural features of 

the landscape, such as lakes and streams, 

Brewer

Haile Ridgeway

Barite

Hill Columbia

SOUTH

CAROLINA

Carolina slate belt

Gold deposits

EXPLANATION

0 100 MILES

0 100 KILOMETERS

Figure 1. Location of gold deposits.

highways, and railroads, boundaries, and 

geographic names. Contour lines are used to 

depict the elevation and shape of terrain. 

South Carolina is covered by 566 maps at 

this scale, which is useful for civil engineering, land-use planning, natural-resource 

monitoring, and other technical applications. These maps have long been favorites 

with the general public for outdoor uses, 

including hiking, camping, exploring, and 

back-country fishing expeditions.

Mapping Partnerships

The USGS has collected digital data, in 

cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR), to provide transportation, hydrography, and 

boundary digital line graph (DLG) data coverage for approximately 70 percent of the 

State; DLG data for an additional 10 percent 

of the State are being produced. A cooperative program for producing statewide digital 

orthophotoquad (DOQ) coverage has been 

started by the USGS and the DNR; presently, about 10 percent of the State is covered by DOQ’s. A DOQ is derived from 

digitized aerial photographs, with displacement caused by camera tilt and terrain relief 

removed; it combines the image characteristics of a photograph with the geometric 

qualities of a map. DOQ’s are being used by 

State agencies to analyze and evaluate the 

Edisto River Basin’s natural resources. 

Other uses include classifying and analyzing soils; monitoring and evaluating wetlands; allocating environmental permits; 

locating archeological and historical sites; 

assessing fisheries; producing agriculturalproductivity indexes; and identifying 

streams and cultural resources.

Earth Science Information 

Centers

The Earth Science Information Centers 

(ESIC’s) provide information to the public 

about USGS programs, products, and technological developments. The ESIC in 

Columbia, established under a cooperative 

agreement between the USGS and the 

South Carolina DNR’s Land Resources 

Information Center, is an active contributor 

to USGS data bases. As part of the national 

ESIC network, this office provides information on such earth-science topics as cartography, geography, digital data, remote 

sensing, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology, geohydrology, aerial photography, and land use. The USGS 

supports it with reference materials, technical assistance, training and outreach 

activities, and access to USGS databases.

National Water-Quality 

Assessment Program

The USGS began a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991. 

The long-term goals are to describe the status of and trends in the quality of a large 

representative part of the Nation’s surfaceand ground-water resources and to identify 

all the major factors that affect the quality of 

these resources. In 1994, NAWQA Program 

assessment began in the Santee River Basin 

and coastal drainages in North Carolina and 

South Carolina (fig. 2).

The following water-quality issues have 

been identified as high-priority, regional 

issues of concern to State and local waterresource managers and are addressed by the 

Santee–Coastal NAWQA Program Study:

Index of Subjects

Potential for Gold Discoveries

Topographic Mapping

Mapping Partnerships

Earth Science Information Centers

National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Geologic Mapping

STATEMAP

Mineral Resource Data System

South Carolina Coastal Erosion Study

Metallic Mineral-Resource Potential

Bioremediation

Hydrologic Data Collection

Waste Assimilative Capacity of Streams 

within the Grand Strand

Biological and Ecological Studies

Cooperating Agencies

Earth Science in the Public Service
EXPLANATION

LAKES

STREAMS

STUDY AREA

BOUNDARY

0 20 40 60 MILES

0 20 40 60 KILOMETERS A t l a n t i c O c e a n

36°

34° 34°

36°

80°

80°

82°

82°

• Enrichment by nitrogen and phosphorus 

has caused algae in many lakes and 

rivers in the study area to increase, 

which reduces dissolved-oxygen 

concentrations and adversely affects 

fish and other aquatic biota.

• Sediment erosion due to land use 

increases water turbidity (which 

increases the cost of treatment for 

public consumption and industrial 

use) deposits silt in reservoirs, covers fish spawning beds, and causes 

aesthetic problems.

• Runoff from urban areas transports 

trace elements and synthetic organic 

compounds that can seriously affect 

the quality of water and wildlife habitats in the receiving streams.

• Pesticides and nutrients can contaminate surface and ground water.

• Mercury is present in elevated concentrations in fish that inhabit streams 

in the Coastal Plain of South 

Carolina. The State has imposed 

fish-consumption limits.

Long-term assessments by the Santee–

Coastal NAWQA Program are a key 

attribute of the Program—not only for 

defining trends, but also for understanding 

water quality in the study area. This understanding will be achieved by carefully analyzing and interpreting long-term data sets 

of chemical and biological characteristics of 

water resources and comparing those data to 

data on hydrology, land-use changes, and 

management practices.

Geologic Mapping

Water-bearing sands beneath the Coastal 

Plain are a traditional source of water for 

municipalities, industry, and landowners. 

However, this resource is endangered by 

overuse, saltwater encroachment along the 

coast, and hazardous-waste contamination. 

Although long-standing Federal and State 

ground-water programs continue to provide 

information on ground-water quality and 

quantity, the USGS also is studying alternating layers of sand and clay sediments that 

form the actual conduits for ground-water 

flow. In cooperation with the DNR and the 

U.S. Department of Energy (Savannah River 

Site), the USGS studies sands as deep as 

3,500 feet. By studying samples from existing test holes and by drilling new test holes, 

the USGS can describe and trace the complex distribution of the numerous Coastal 

Plain aquifers. Additionally, the test holes 

provide samples for chemical and bacteriological studies of the ground water and sediments, as well as sites for monitoring 

ground-water levels. This combination of 

traditional ground-water studies with studies of the physical architecture of the waterbearing sediments will greatly improve the 

understanding of the Coastal Plain groundwater system.

STATEMAP

The STATEMAP component of the USGS 

National Cooperative Geologic Mapping 

Program funds important geologic mapping 

conducted by the South Carolina Geological 

Survey. The object of this USGS-coordinated 

program is to produce geologic maps of areas 

for which knowledge of geology is important 

to the economic, social, and scientific welfare of the State.

During the past year, the emphasis of this 

mapping has been on the rapid growth I-85 

corridor in the Greenville–Spartanburg area 

and to the environmentally sensitive area in 

the upper Lake Marion area. Areas of 

increasing populations in the Greenville–

Spartanburg area of the Piedmont and in the 

upper Lake Marion area in the Coastal Plain 

are increasing the demand on limited natural 

resources. The most demanding challenge to 

the Greenville–Spartanburg area is maintaining a sustainable water supply while it 

operates under the constraint of “no new 

reservoirs.” The threat of pollution is the 

greatest challenge in the upper Lake Marion 

area.

Understanding the geology in these areas 

is important because of the relation 

between pollution and solid-waste disposal, 

Figure 2. The NAWQA Santee Basin and coastal drainages study unit.
1983

1921

1857 / 58

79° 54' 79° 52'

79° 54' 79° 52'

Mean High Water Line

Morris Island, SC

32° 44' 32° 42'

32° 44' 32° 42'

0 0.5 1

Kilometers

0 1

Miles

0.5

Charleston

Harbor

Lighthouse Inlet

surface recharge, and ground-water flow and 

discharge and because of the need to ensure 

natural resources for the future. Identifying 

natural resources to meet industrial and 

urban growth demands, as well as protecting 

and conserving sensitive natural resources, 

are objectives of STATEMAP. In both of the 

map areas, the focus is on obtaining knowledge capable of mitigating the water-related 

issues and providing land-use planners with 

information on the natural resources of both 

areas.

Mineral Resource Data System

The USGS now has two minerals databases: the traditional Mineral Resources Data 

System (MRDS) and the Mineral Availability 

System (MAS), which was transferred into the 

USGS from the Bureau of Mines. Between 

them, the minerals data bases contain information on hundreds of thousands of deposits 

and mineral-processing locations around the 

world. These data bases are the principal tools 

that the USGS uses for 

mineral-resource and mineral-environmental 

research. In addition, this information is available to Federal and State agencies and the 

general public. The data bases contain information on more than 1,000 sites in South 

Carolina, including metallic and nonmetallic 

deposits. The information has been compiled 

in cooperation with the South Carolina Geological Survey.

South Carolina Coastal Erosion 

Study

 The USGS has initiated a study of the 

South Carolina coast, in cooperation with the 

South Carolina Department of Health and 

Environmental Control —Office of Ocean 

and Coastal Resource Management and the 

South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, to 

develop a regional understanding of the processes causing coastal erosion. Information 

from the study can be used to preserve and 

enhance South Carolina's valuable coastal 

resources. The study is focusing on improving predictions of erosion by understanding 

nearshore physical processes and the regional 

geology (fig. 3). This large-scale regional 

investigation is revealing processes that cause 

shoreline and shoreface erosion which cannot 

be easily determined from local studies.

Metallic Mineral-Resource 

Potential

The USGS has completed a quantitative 

national assessment of mineral resources for 

five commonly used metals: gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. This assessment enables 

the USGS to respond quickly to requests for 

information about these mineral resources 

throughout the country from Congress, Federal and State agencies, industry, and the 

public. A report provides general mineral 

information to land-use planners who are 

concerned with resource management. An 

inventory lists significant known deposits, 

identifies areas with mineral potential, and 

estimates the quantity of each metal likely to 

be present. In South Carolina, tracts are 

delineated that may have undiscovered copper, lead, zinc and two types of gold deposits. The assessment can be used as a basis for 

more detailed studies. 

As a complement to the national assessment, the USGS, in cooperation with State 

geological surveys including the South 

Carolina Geological Survey, is conducting a 

more comprehensive regional assessment of 

the known and potential metallic and industrial mineral resources in the eastern United 

States. The results of the regional assessment 

can assist land-management agencies, 

regional planners, industry, and local governments with adequate mineral supply at 

the lowest possible cost and ensure sound 

management of the region’s resources. South 

Carolina contains identified resources of 

gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, titanium, rare 

earths, zirconium, tin, refractory minerals, 

lithium, mica, and feldspar minerals of 

national and global importance. In addition, 

competition for land, water, and biological 

resources also affects the local availability of 

clay, limestone, sand and gravel, crushed 

rock, building stone, slate, aggregate, and 

other industrial mineral resources. These 

industrial minerals are needed for infrastructure repairs and building projects. 

Bioremediation

Ground water has been contaminated at 

thousands of sites nationwide due to leaking storage tanks, landfills, and spills. Most 

of these sites involve contamination by 

petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated 

solvents. The task of cleaning up these sites 

requires an assessment technique to determine which sites pose the most risk of 

exposure to humans or wildlife by way of 

streams, wells, or springs, and which sites 

pose little risk. At many sites there is some 

natural biodegradation of these contaminants. The USGS, in cooperation with the 

Naval Facilities Engineering Command, 

has developed an assessment technique to 

determine if biodegradation rates are sufficient to prevent contaminant migration to 

nearby streams, wells, or springs. The technique relies on traditional hydrogeologic 

studies to determine the rate and direction 

of ground-water flow and the absorptive 

capacity of the soil, and on microbiological 

tests in the field and the laboratory to determine the rate of biodegradation. The rates 

are entered into a computer model that simulates the distance that toxic concentrations 

will travel. When it can be shown that natural attenuation will degrade contaminants 

before they reach streams or wells, these 

processes can be used as a treatment strategy called “Intrinsic Bioremediation,” 

which requires assessing treatment efficiency and long-term monitoring to verify 

contaminant containment.

Figure 3. Morris Island, just south of 

Charleston Harbor, has experienced severe 

erosion in the last 100 years due to natural and 

human causes.

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at Myrtle Beach

Marine Corps

Air Station

South

Carolina

Figure 4. Locations of selected hydrologic 

investigations in South Carolina.
For More

Information

South

Carolina

The technique recently was applied to 

two sites at the Marine Corps Air Station 

Near Beaufort, South Carolina (fig. 4). 

Results showed that one site has clay soils, 

slow ground-water flow, and sufficient biodegradation to confine the contaminant 

plume. At another site with sandy soil, 

ground water moves too quickly for effective bioremediation. Additional remediation 

techniques, such as enhanced bioremediation or pump-and-treat, will be necessary to 

protect nearby streams, wells, and springs.

Hydrologic Data Collection

South Carolina’s abundant surface- and 

ground-water resources are being stressed 

by the demands of a growing population. 

Careful management of water resources in 

the face of these pressures requires an 

extensive information base, which is the aim 

of the USGS. In cooperation with Federal, 

State, and local agencies, the USGS maintains an extensive network of data-collection stations that continuously monitor 

rainfall, water stage, streamflow, water quality, and ground-water levels. The data network includes 188 gages on rivers and 

lakes, 23 rain gages, 49 wells, and 48 waterquality monitoring sites (fig. 5). The data 

are stored in the USGS national data files 

and are available upon request. Additionally, 

the USGS has installed satellite telemetry 

equipment at most of its data-collection 

sites to provide water-resources data in 

near-realtime to the South Carolina District 

Office and to other agencies.

Waste Assimilative Capacity of 

Streams within the Grand Strand

The Grand Strand is a rapidly growing 

resort area in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the northeastern coast of South Carolina. A recent USGS report provides 

information that water-resource managers 

and planners can use to ensure that plentiful, 

clean water is available for this economically important area. The report describes 

the ability of the Waccamaw River and the 

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway near Myrtle 

Beach to absorb pollutants without affecting 

the water quality, especially, dissolved oxygen concentrations. Information on this ability, known as the assimilative capacity of the 

streams, helps the local water managers 

determine the most effective uses of surfacewater resources while protecting the aquatic 

life in the streams. The report was prepared 

in cooperation with the Waccamaw Regional 

Planning and Development Council.

Biological and Ecological Studies 

The USGS Biological Resources Division 

(formerly the National Biological Service) 

conducts research on many aspects of South 

Carolina’s ecosystems. Much of this research 

is done by the South Carolina Cooperative 

Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, located on 

the Clemson University campus, in close 

cooperation with State agencies and the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service. USGS research 

activities include developing techniques for 

restoring forested wetlands along the 

Coosawhatchie River; conducting contaminant studies to assess the quality of water and 

sediment in the lower Savannah River and 

Charleston Harbor; and evaluating the effects 

of water-level changes on migratory bird 

habitat in National Wildlife Refuges and 

State wildlife management areas.

Cooperating Agencies

The USGS cooperates with more than 29 

Federal, State, and local agencies in South 

Carolina. Major Federal cooperators are the 

U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Navy, 

the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers. State cooperators include the 

South Carolina Departments of Natural 

Resources, Health and Environmental Control, and Transportation. Local cooperators 

include cities, counties, and utility districts. 

Cooperative activities include waterresources-data collection, interpretive 

water-availability and water-quality studies, mineral-resources assessments, and 

mapping. When local and State agencies are 

involved, activities typically are financed on 

a matching-funds basis. 

The USGS provides support to the South 

Carolina Water Resources Research Center 

at Clemson University, which conducts a 

program of research, education, and information and technology transfer.

USGS state representative

720 Gracern Road

Stephenson Center, Suite 129

Columbia, SC 29210

(803) 750-6100

Fax: (803) 750-6181

Email: dc_sc@usgs.gov

Additional earth science

information can be found by

accessing the USGS Home Page

on the World Wide Web at

http://www.usgs.gov/

For more information on

all USGS reports and products

(including maps, images,

and computerized data), call

1-888-ASK-USGS

The USGS provides maps,

reports, and information to help

others meet their needs to manage,

 develop, and protect America’s water,

energy, mineral, biological, and land

resources. We help find the natural

resources needed to build tomorrow,

and supply the scientific understanding needed to help minimize or mitigate the effects of natural hazards

and environmental damage caused

by natural and human activities. The

results of our efforts touch the daily

 life of almost every American.

U.S. Geological Survey

Figure 5. Water-quality monitoring sites Fact Sheet FS-040-96