The West Marion plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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3.90 inches of rain fell in two days, the most for this week of the year since records began in 1893. The next wettest, 3.68 inches, fell in 1935.
West Marion’s center stands about 1,470 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,250 ft to 1,980 ft, a difference of 730 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Commissary Hill, about 6,050 ft, 15 miles west-northwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Biotite Gneiss and Schist (biotite-gneiss, mica-schist, calc-silicate-rock), from the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old.
The section below crosses 10 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 5×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Biotite-gneiss, mica-schist, calc-silicate-rock. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Biotite-gneiss. Age: Cambrian to Ordovician, 445 to 542 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Amphibolite, biotite-gneiss. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic, 950 to 1,250 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Metagranite. Age: Early Cambrian to Late Ordovician, 455 to 540 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 4 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in West Marion reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of North Muddy Creek, Muddy Creek, the Catawba, the Wateree, the Congaree, the Santee and the South Santee: about 430 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Lib Pines Lake and Lake Norman.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of West Marion; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
West Marion has a humid subtropical climate. Summer afternoons average 85° in July; winter nights fall to about 28° in January. A normal year brings about 7 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 57 inches of water.
On November 14 West Marion normally reaches 61° and falls to 38°. The record high is 79°, in 1909; the record low 18°, in 1986. The most rain on this date, 1.48 in, fell in 1972.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1893 at Marion, 2 miles north-northeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
