MONITORING THE GEOMORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES OF AN OVERWASH FAN OFF THE COAST OF CAPE COD

The objective of this project is to monitor the changes that are occurring on an overwash fan off the coast of Cape Cod. This dynamic environment is influenced by wave, storm, and tidal energies. The spatial and temporal changes taking place will be observed, and the results will be analyzed in order to better understand overwash processes and their relevance to sea level transgression. A quantitative analysis has been done by developing transects along specific track lines near Nauset Beach that have been monitored over a six month period. Comparisons have been made along the transects at two week intervals to determine the small scale temporal changes that are underway on this overwash fan. Beach profiles have been created to examine variations between the profiles over a two week time interval, and sediment samples as well as cores have been collected in order to analyze the moving sediment of this environment. The long-term changes are being monitored by analyzing a five-year pictorial time series. A photo log taken at the same location every week for the last five years. Through analysis and examination of the morphological changes, the influences of past weather conditions will be coupled with the beach profiles. These two data sets will provide the basis for a conceptual model that can be used to correlate beach morphology and storm activity.