The Age and Development of the Provincelands Hook, Outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts1

Abstract

The Provincelands Hook, an area of marshes and dunes, was built out from the northern end of the glacial deposits of Outer Cape Cod. The hook, a wedge 60 m at its thickest, of marine, beach, and dune material, rests in part on Tertiary Coastal Plain sediments that are probably only an isolated patch on the crystalline basement. About 18,000 years ago, when late Tazewell ice melted away from the region of present day Cape Cod, the Gulf of Maine was filled with ice, and Georges Bank was above sea level. Between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago, sand that eroded from the coast was moved along the east side of Cape Cod from north to south, where it accumulated as a part of the sand wave complex southeast of the cape. Waves from the east and southeast that would have tended to move sand northward along the Capo were blocked by Georges Shoals and Nantucket Shoals. By 6,000 years ago, sea level had so risen that deeper water over Georges Bank permitted more waves to reach Cape Cod from the east and southeast. The dominant direction of littoral drift which had been to the south, then received a strong north component and material moved northward, accumulating to form the Provincelands Hook. Based on 14C dates and other evidence, the hook formed between 6,000 years ago and the present and is still growing. Shoreline reconstructions are guided by 14C dates, well information, regional topography, and known behavior of hooks. It is noted that hooks are characteristic features of Cape Cod spits and tend to trap lakes behind them. The depressions containing lakes in the modern Provincelands are interpreted as low areas trapped behind hooks. A change in the growth habits of spits is thought to have taken place about 2,000 years ago, coinciding with the abrupt decrease in the rate of rise of sea level.

Negative correlation between porosity and hydraulic conductivity in sand-and-gravel aquifers at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

“…The Provincetown area was formed by northerly coastal drift and deposition of ocean-reworked glacial sands over 60 m thick since the close of the Wisconsin Glaciation some 12,000 years ago (Strahler, 1972). These deposits overlie ancient Eocene sediments (Zeigler et al, 1965); bedrock is at a depth of about 150 m in the central part of the region (Strahler, 1972).…”

The Late Quaternary Construction of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: A Reconsideration of the W. M. Davis Model

“…5). This cross section differs from the one in Zeigler et al (1965) in that we assumed that the red clay in the well at Pilgrim Lake is a postglacial deposit and not part o f the Truro plain as postulated by them. D, The section extending eastward from the lower Cape was reconstructed from the seismic reflection profile in Figure 14 and geophysical data from the lower Cape (Oldale, 1969) and Cape Cod Bay (Oldale and O 'Hara, 1990).…”

“…At Race Point Spit (borehole A) the Provincetown Hook facies rests on a peb bly, poorly sorted medium sand with water-worn clasts that also may be equivalent to the amorphous layer offshore. These sed iments, like the fine sediments at Stark's (borehole C), were previously assigned by Zeigler et al (1965) as Eocene in age; we suggest that they are late Pleistocene deposits. Eastern offshore area.…”

“…Possibly the clay is not fluvioglacial but rather lagoonal in origin, deposited in the Province town H ook complex during the Holocene. The sediments between the Provincetown Hook facies and the lake deposits in borehole C at Stark's display less wear than the Provincetown Hook marine sediments above, leading Zeigler et al (1965) to propose that they are of fluvial-glacial rather than marine ori- gin. Zeigler et al (1965) also proposed that this sequence at a depth of 40 m probably is in place and marks the most westerly occurrence of the Truro drift.…”

“…Those at bore hole D contain traces of glauconite, shell fragments, carbonized wood, and Eocene spores and pollen. Zeigler et al (1960Zeigler et al ( , 1965 believed that the spores and pollen and carbonized wood in borehole D were in place and proposed that the fine-grained sed iments in well D and the wells in the Provincetown Hook (bore holes A and C: Fig. 10) were Eocene in age.…”