A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GSOLOGY OF 
WESTERN CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS 
by 
Kirtley F. Mather, Richard FP. Goldthwait 
Lincoln R. Thiesmeyer 
Introduction 
Geolocists attempting to decipher the record of glacial times 
have long been interested in the features of Cape Cod and its neigh- 
toring islands. Technical reportsl/of their conclusions form an im- 
ly 4 selected group of these papers is listed at the end of this re- 
port Reference to them will be made by numbers in parentheses in- 
Ge their position in the alphabetical list. 
D ° 
ficating 
= 
portant part of geological literature. In recent years, through rap- 
id development of the Cape as a vacationland,the opening of numerous 
Dp roadcuts and excavations has made available hundreds of expo- 
Sy 
es of. subsurface materials that these investigators could not 
e seen. Storms, especially the hurricane of 1938, have cut back 
the cliffs at many places and stripped away slumped material that 
formerly obscured the geologic featurese Excellent new topographic 
maps of southeastern Massachusetts are being made by the United 
ctates Geological Survey in cooperation with the Department af Public 
“orks of the Commorwealthe Because the scale of these maps is larger 
and their contour interval is smaller, they provide a more accurate 
tase upon which to plot the geologic features than did the maps used 
by previous investigators. Techniques in studying and interpreting 
° u 
~ recent years, geologists have been reporting an even greater com- 
lexity of glacial devosits in New Sngland than had been previously 
rferred. It seemed advisable, therefore, to undertake a systematic 
e-examination of the geolosy in this critical and classic area. 
The field work that forms the basis of this report was done 
during the summer of 1939,as 9 part of a continuing project for geo- 
1 
locic mapping under the cooperative auspices of the Massachusetts 
~#partment of Public Works, and the Geological Survey, United States 
~epartmert of the Interior. This report is designed to present to 
