a aaa aaa 
Lies 
Recent Modification. by Erosion 
Development. of. Guliies 
Erosion of the glaciated territory by raimvesh and by wind wa 
in progress during the recession of the aes ewly- ~formed 
land surfaces were subzect to :-such attec 1ey were un- 
covered, or even while they were being bu: ae of the, ice. 
Wind action diminished after the ice getation. spread 
over the -Cape and prevented the sands of the twash plains, trom 
drifting about as they must have done while the ventifacts were un- 
dergoing, sculpture by sandblast. As the .climete became gradually 
warmer and the seasons. of. freezing weather grew snorter, the number 
of rainstorms each. year,,increased, and erosion by running water was 
more continuous. Many small gullies develened.as the run-off began 
to.cut down through-the .loose deposits. Fresext lines of generally. 
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_ poor -drainage. were established, a. few swanny ereas were dreined, and 
the. landseapes which had come. into existence during the Pleistocene 
epoch were somewhat modified by Recent erosi Te Phe degree of such 
modification, -however, is so slight,cors 3 tnat such loose, un- 
consolidated materials are. subject to rapid ercsion, that the time 
that. has.- elapsed .since.. the retreat of the ice could.not have been 
very long. 
Marine Submergence and Srosion 
The rise of sevice that peaeed when the ice relted brought 
the Atlantic strandline slowly. back toward its sent ee, As 
the water rose,it finally. lapped against the. outermost moraine. The 
lower parts...of this were submerged, and wide stresches .of it were 
cut away by the pounding surf. The moraine beits on Nantucket and 
Mertha‘s :-Vineyard..are the only remnant -of that .remain 
above sealevel in the Cape Cod eree. Sp them,the sea 
formed Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sounc é z siniler attack 
on the recessional Buzzards Bay moraine eo 6) boom The -Eliza- 
beth Islands represent, the higher ae of thi ine southwest of 
Woods :Hole, .and the steep cliffs of tili the: irregular 
shoreline in.this part of the Cape are “stil i wuidergoing violent..et- 
tack by weaves. . The eastern.arm of the Cane, facing the heavy storms 
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of the open ocean, . offers... little resistance to the onslaught .of 
northeasters. It-has -been cut. back at least a mile or. two-in the 
last, few thousand years,.(2a) and will secon nually narrower. 
Near Wellfleet only about a mile of land with ¢ topography -now 
Separates the. waters of Cape Cod Bay from th the open oceans 
Along.the . south shore, .the sea flooded th ends.of the..long 
furrows in the outwash plains,turned then y estuaries, and 
invaded large kettle-holes to form such as Waquoit Bay 
(Felmouth quadrangle). The irregulerity 
excellent harbors for small.craft is 2 
drowning of the uneven,.glacial, landscape. 
