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Buried Forest Emerges at South Cape Beach: Watch Your Step But Take a Second Look
Scores of old tree stumps and concentrations of tangled roots now stick out of the sand near the low tide waterline at South Cape Beach in Mashpee, poking their dark stubbly tops above the sea surface. The recurring storms of March 2010, packing strong southeasterly winds and waves, caused significant erosion to some parts of the Nantucket and Vineyard Sound south-facing shoreline. The removal of tons of overlying beach sand has allowed the long hidden and buried remains of what was once a coastal plain forest to emerge on the oceanside of the beach.
Sharp stumps and tangled roots make the area hazardous to swimmers and fishermen; the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which manages the beach, is therefore limiting these activities in the immediate area. Safety issue aside, however, the find is “scientifically very interesting” says Dr. Chris Weidman, the Research Coordinator for DCR’s Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR), of which the state beach is a part. According to Dr. Weidman, the “forest may be quite old, perhaps 200 to 1000 years,” based on the stumps’ sub-tidal elevation relative to today’s sea level.
“This is classic evidence of shoreline retreat,” says Dr. Weidman, “a forest of what looks like mostly juniper trees is now exposed at low tide.” He suggested that the back and sea level has risen, so that what was once forest is now a few feet underwater. Even though coastal scientists have long known that Cape Cod is eroding away and that the ocean is rising, this is a dramatic illustration of dynamic coastal processes at work. The exposure of this old forest may now provide scientists at WBNERR an opportunity to measure the local rate of sea level rise more precisely. Who knows what the sea will reveal next?
Learn more about the Waquoit Bay NERR.
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Last Updated on: 04-25-2012
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