Sears C1905) found the coastline to be subsiding at about 3 feet per 

 century, and noted the various drift patterns of the beach sand. Chute 

 and Nichols (1941) presented ideas on the formation of Castle Neck, and 

 studied the recent geologic history of the area in greater detail than 

 previous workers. Sammel C1963} mapped the surface geology of the 

 Ipswich quadrangle, which includes parts of Plum Island and Castle Neck. 

 Mclntire and Morgan (1963) were the first to probe the subsurface with 

 drill holes, and to correlate drill-hole horizons with known Pleistocene 

 and Holocene stratigraphy. 



From 1965 to 1972, students of Professor Miles 0. Hayes, at the Univ- 

 ersity of Massachusetts, studied coastal processes in this area. Much 

 of this material remains unpublished in the form of theses. A large part 

 of this work has been summarized in Coastal Environments, a guidebook for 

 the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists field trip. 

 May 9-11, 1969, written hy the Coastal Research Group, University of 

 Massachusetts. McCormick (1968) studied marsh stratigraphy in the Plum 

 Island marsh with more than 60 cores, some to a depth of 40 feet. 



Linehan (1942, 1948) was one of the earliest seismologists to do shal- 

 low refraction work in New England. He and others used the method to 

 determine bedrock profiles along proposed highway routes. By this method, 

 the Department of Public Works determined the volume of overburden to be 

 excavated and the nature of the rock topography. The seismic method has 

 been used to locate preglacial bedrock channels of the Merrimack, Connect- 

 icut, and Charles Rivers. In these examples, refraction seismology was 

 used primarily to "see through" the overburden and map the bedrock sur- 

 face. Currier (1960) evaluated the seismic method for determining bed- 

 rock topography under proposed highway and foundation sites. He also 

 discussed resistivity, wash-boring, and core drilling as useful subsur- 

 face profiling aids, but concluded that the seismic method was the most 

 successful . 



The purpose of this study was to develop field and interpretive 

 techniques for the study of the third dimension in the coastal environ- 

 ment. Plum Island and Castle Neck were chosen for their almost untouched 

 natural state and for the large amount of accumulated information on sur- 

 face processes. An understanding of the types and rates of shore pro* 

 cesses aids in the interpretation of subsurface data. 



Methods and interpretative guidelines developed during this study can 

 now be applied in other areas, perhaps while gathering other coastal data. 

 The result can be a three-dimensional sedimentary model that effectively 

 links space and time. 



