TY - Generic T1 - Subtle modification of glacially derived materials along Massachusetts’ southern coast by passing summer storms T2 - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America Y1 - 2015 A1 - Nicholas L Venti A1 - Sabina Gessay A1 - Paul Southard A1 - Douglass Beach A1 - Margot Mansfield A1 - Stephen B Mabee A1 - Jonathan D Woodruff KW - #StaffPubs KW - Barges Beach KW - beach KW - beach erosion KW - beach profile KW - BOEM KW - Buzzard's Bay KW - climate change KW - coast KW - coastal KW - cobble KW - Cuttyhunk Island KW - dune KW - East beach KW - Edgartown KW - erosion KW - Falmouth KW - grain-size KW - Horseneck beach KW - intertidal KW - Low beach KW - Martha's Vineyard KW - Miacomet beach KW - Nantucket KW - nourishment KW - Oak Bluffs KW - offshore KW - onshore KW - Plum Island KW - profiles KW - sand KW - sea level rise KW - storm KW - Surf Beach KW - Sylvia State beaches KW - Town beach KW - Westport KW - winter storm AB - Engineered resupply of sand to coastal environments, i.e. nourishment, offers an attractive short-term strategy to address beach erosion in Massachusetts. For efficient nourishment, site-specific knowledge of seasonal grain size and sediment volume variability at eroding beaches is essential. We have begun measuring grain size and profile at 22 eroding Massachusetts beaches, capturing summer and winter conditions at each site through four to nine representative transects perpendicular to the shore and spaced 100-500 meters apart. Our recently completed first summer field season (August/September 2014) visited eight beaches along Massachusetts’ south coast from Rhode Island to Nantucket. These environments should reflect regional glacial history and a summer interval of reduced storm activity. Where unstratified surficial materials characterize the coast, erosion of glacial till (Horseneck and East beaches, Westport) and end moraine (Barges Beach, Cuttyhunk Island; Town and Sylvia State beaches, Oak Bluffs/Edgartown) can yield cobble berms capping steep intertidal zones. We noted that increased wave activity during storms strips a thin (inches-thick) layer of intertidal sand to reveal gravel and cobble below, while leaving beach profile essentially unchanged. In contrast, where (cobble-free) glacial outwash intersects the coast (Surf Beach, Falmouth; Miacomet and Low beaches, Nantucket) sand and gravel are distributed more evenly across beach facies. Here passing summer storms modify beach profile but not grain size: high surf cuts sandy berms, shifting steepened intertidal zones landward. We will reoccupy south coast sites at the end of winter in 2015 to examine effects of seasonally related increase in storm (and wave) activity. Survey of Massachusetts’ east coast (Sandwich to New Hampshire) is planned for summer of 2015 and winter of 2016. Additionally, overwash sequences recovered through backbarrier basin coring at selected sites complement our beach survey by providing depositional records of particularly strong storms. Study results will allow identification of suitably matched nourishment sources onshore, or offshore, as described in Massachusetts’ Office of Coastal Zone Management’s extensive grain-size database. JF - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America PB - Geological Society of America (GSA) : Boulder, CO, United States CY - Northeastern Section - 50th Annual Meeting (23–25 March 2015), Bretton Woods, NH VL - 47 UR - https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2015NE/webprogram/Paper252510.html ER - TY - MAP T1 - Onshore-offshore surficial geologic map of the Provincetown Quadrangle, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Y1 - 2012 A1 - Borrelli, M. A1 - Gontz, A.M. A1 - Wilson, J.R. A1 - Brown, T.L.B. A1 - Norton, A.R. A1 - and G S Geise KW - #MGSPub KW - #OnshoreOffshore KW - #SurficialMaps KW - Cape Cod KW - coastal KW - glacial KW - offshore KW - onshore KW - Provincetown KW - surficial KW - Truro AB - Undergoing Editing and Review. Please contact sbmabee[at]geo[dot]umass[dot]edu for latest version. PB - Massachusetts Geological Survey ER - TY - MAP T1 - Progress map of the onshore-offshore surficial geologic map of the North Truro quadrangle, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Y1 - 0 A1 - Borrelli, M. A1 - Gontz, A.M. A1 - Smith, T.L. A1 - Wilson, J.R. A1 - Shumchenia, E.J. A1 - and G S Geise KW - #MGSPub KW - #OnshoreOffshore KW - #SurficialMaps KW - Cape Cod KW - dunes KW - glacial KW - offshore KW - onshore KW - onshore-offshore KW - Pleistocene KW - surficial KW - Truro AB - Map undergoing editing and review. Please contact sbmabee@geo.umass.edu for a copy. PB - Massachusetts Geological Survey U2 - 1:24000 ER - TY - RPRT T1 - A microfossil evaluation of sediment deposits on the continental shelf, Merrimack embayment, New England Y1 - 2007 A1 - Steven A Nathan A1 - Leckie, R.M. A1 - Stephen B Mabee KW - #MGSPubs KW - #Reports KW - Foraminifera KW - fossils KW - Merrimack Delta KW - Merrimack Embayment KW - Merrimack River KW - microfossils KW - offshore KW - sedimentology AB - Final Report to Minerals Management Service, U.S. Department of Interior 60 pages. contact sbmabee @geo.umass.edu PB - Massachusetts Geological Survey ER -