Recent Evolution of an Active Barrier Beach Complex: Popponesset Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

摘要

The geomorphic evolution of a small barrier beach on Nantucket Sound was analyzed using historical charts and aerial photographs spanning two centuries. Dramatic changes are associated with the length of the beach and its onshore migration, the geometry of a small island and the location of inlets and beachways. Beach length has changed by about 1.5 km---first in a growth phase from about 1844 to 1954, and then in an attrition phase from 1955 to the present. Landward migration of the beach has amounted to 55-140 meters since 1938, including both long-term trends and storm displacements, but narrowing of the beach has not been dramatic. Dredging in nearby waters has involved relatively large quantities of sand but neither dredging nor shoreline structures appear responsible for large changes in the subaerial beach.