Recent vertical crustal movements near Charleston, South Carolina

Abstract

Reevaluation of first‐order leveling data for the South Carolina Coastal Plain shows evidence of recent vertical crustal movements. These movements do not appear to be due to internal systematic errors in the data but rather to external processes such as near‐surface water withdrawal or neotectonic movements. Dislocation modeling of the observed movements near Charleston provided a nonunique solution; thus the geodetic data do not provide a constraint on the tectonic model for the Charleston area. The movements observed near Charleston are aseismic, and any tectonic movements are masked by the effects of water withdrawal or are buried within the noise level.