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You are presently viewing the 6th day of a series of 7, day-long field trips exploring the geoscience of Massachusetts. Use the navigation area to the left to view the entire series. For more information about this site, please visit the Geoscience Tour Overview.
As time passes, I will be adding content to this site in the form of
HTML presentations, digital photographs, and reference materials & sites. I hope you find this information of value.
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Massachusetts' Coast
Massachusetts has approximately 2,000 miles of constantly changing coastline from wave action, tides, changes in sea level, storms, and human activity. Human activity alters the movement of sand along the shoreline as can be seen by the accretion of sand on one side of a jetty or groin, and the corresponding erosion on the other. Human activity inland can also affect the coastline by increasing or decreasing the supply of eroded material (e.g., sand) from rivers transporting the erroded uplands to the coastal system.
The interface between land and sea is the most dynamic place on earth, and Cape Cod is no exception. The Cape Cod National Seashore contains over 43,000 acres of shoreline, salt marshes, freshwater kettle ponds formed by melting galciers, and wild cranberry bogs, representing a remarkable diversity of habitats.
This portion of our geoscience tour will introduce the 65-mile long penninsula known as Cape Cod, its formation some 15,000 YBP, and recent changes that turned Cape Cod into a island - the Cape Cod Canal. This tour includes related background science, as well as a virtual field trip, available via the links (located to the left) as follows:
Background
Cape Cod was formed by a warming of Earth's climate that led to the retreat of the Wisconsinian Ice Sheet (see Day 5 of this series, specifically the first section of The Pleistocene Forward) that once covered the area. With the melting of glacial ice, and the thermal expansion of ocean water with the warmer temperatures, came a rise in sea-level that innundated the former coastal plane beginning a continuous process of coastal erosion that has continued unabated for more than 15,000 years. Recent research into the effects of Global Warming on Massachusetts (CLIMB) suggests an increased rate of change in sea-level and coastal erosion for Massachusetts' shoreline. Cape Cod and the Islands
Field Trip
In 1623, Captain Miles Standish proposed a canal be built by connecting two exisiting tidal rivers on opposite sides of the highland running down the center of the isthmus. By extending both rivers inland, what is now Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay would be a short 7-mile journey by water, and travel from NY City to Boston would be reduced by ~129 miles.
Building upon the provided background information, I have put together a virtual (or actual) field trip to the Cape Code Canal highlighting key features demonstrative of various aspects of Ocean Science. Specific locations and directions are also included for those who live in the general area and would like to explore the area first-hand.
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FIGURE 1: Travel Map