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Brief Report for Charleston liquefaction features (Class A) No. 2657
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citation for this record: Wheeler, R.L., compiler, 1998, Fault number 2657, Charleston liquefaction features, in Quaternary fault and fold database of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey website, http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults, accessed 11/24/2009 06:00 AM.
| Synopsis | The evidence for Quaternary faulting at this locale in central coastal South Carolina consists of (1) eyewitness reports of widespread liquefaction during an earthquake in 1886 of moment magnitude M 7.3 and intensity MMI X (Bollinger, 1977 #1966; Johnston, 1996 #1842), (2) middle to late Holocene craters, sand blows, and sand fissures produced by large, prehistoric earthquakes, and (3) the recognition that the liquefaction and paleoliquefaction features are attributable to strong shaking caused by seismic faulting (Obermeier and others, 1987 #2050; Obermeier, 1996 #2256).
These liquefaction features are evidence of strong shaking, but they do not identify the specific fault or faults that caused an earthquake or earthquakes. Because individual Quaternary faults remain unidentified, it is not possible to define and measure specific attributes (azimuth, length, dip, etc.) for the Charleston liquefaction features. |
| County(s) and State(s) | |
| AMS sheet(s) | Savannah |
| Physiographic province(s) | |
| Length (km) | 0 km. |
| Average strike | |
| Sense of movement | No data |
| Dip Direction | Unknown |
| Historic earthquake | |
| Most recent prehistoric deformation | Latest Quaternary (<15 ka) |
| Slip-rate category | Insufficient data |
| Date and Compiler(s) | 1998 Russell L. Wheeler, U.S. Geological Survey |
