MONITORING A NAUSET BEACH BREACH AND INLET FORMATION, 2007-2008 ON CAPE COD, CHATHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

NPS/NER/NRR -- 2010/144
Mark Adams¹, and Graham Giese<sup>2

1</sup>99 Marconi Site Road Cape Cod National Seashore
Wellfleet MA 02667
Mark_adams@nps.gov

²5 Holway Road Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies
Provincetown MA 02657
ggiese@coastalstudies.org

January 2010

U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service Northeast Region
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

________________________________

Introduction

Cape Cod’s postglacial coasts are valued ecological, recreational and community resources as well as a laboratories for observing coastal dynamics. Nauset Beach refers to a system of barriers and spits above the “elbow” of Cape Cod that have been transported and re-deposited in seasonal and multi-year cycles. Nauset barrier beach is entirely within the jurisdiction of Cape Cod National Seashore (Seashore) and spans the Towns of Orleans and Chatham.

On April 15-16, 2007 a spring nor’easter coincided with spring tides and caused inundation and overwash of several sites along Nauset Beach. A breach in the barrier beach in Chatham gradually evolved into a persistent inlet, growing slowly throughout the summer and expanding more rapidly in late winter 2008. The breach was monitored via cooperative efforts between the Seashore, the Town of Chatham and the Pleasant Bay Alliance (a local non-profit) and observations were shared with resource managers, town officials and the public through forums, government meetings and the local press. The management response essentially followed existing National Park Service (NPS) policies and the consensus of town voters which dictated that coastal processes be allowed to continue unimpeded. In the short term, large volumes of sediment have been transported into the Pleasant Bay system and tidal circulation within the estuary has been re-oriented and increased. As many as 13 seasonal beach cottages have been inundated or removed and navigation for the Town’s commercial and recreational fishing fleet has become more complicated due to sediment shoaling in channels.

The evolution of this new “North Inlet” mirrors similar historical events (e.g. ca.1846) but the eventual course of change remains to be seen. Cape Cod communities have long traditions of adapting to coastal change but current events highlight for a new generation an awareness of century-scale processes. As in most coastal communities, development, property values and intensity of use has dramatically increased in such a short time-frame that they have yet to be fully tested in the time-frame of geologic cycles.

__________________________

To open the report, click here.