BEACH EROSION STUDIES 



Beach erosion control studies of specific localities are usually made 

 by the Corps of Engineers in cooperation with appropriate agencies of the 

 various States by authority of Section 2 of the River and Harbor Act 

 approved 3 July 1930. By executive ruling the costs of these studies are 

 divided equally between the United States and the cooperating agencies. 

 Information concerning the initiation of a cooperative study may be ob- 

 tained from any District or Division Engineer of the Corps of Engineers. 

 After a report on a cooperative study has been transmitted to Congress, a 

 summary thereof is included in the next issue of this Bulletin. Summaries 

 of reports transmitted to Congress since the last issue of the Bulletin 

 and lists of completed and authorized cooperative studies follow. 



SUMMARIES OF REPORTS TRANSMITTED TO CONGRESS 



PEMBERTON POINT TO CAPE COD CANAL, MASSACHUSETTS 



The purpose of the investigation was to determine in general the 

 best method of shore protection, prevention of further erosion, and 

 improvement of beaches, and specifically to develop plans for protec- 

 tion of Crescent Beach, The Glades, North Scituate Beach, Brant Rock, 

 and Plymouth Town Beach. The study area comprised the shores of 

 Massachusettes and Cape Cod Bays between Pemberton Point, about 7 miles 

 east of Boston, and the east end of the Cape Cod Canal, about hi miles 

 southeast of Boston. It includes the shores of the towns of Hull, 

 Cohasset, Scituate, Marshfield, Duxbury, Plymouth and Bourne, and the 

 northerly tip of the town of Sandwich, a total shore frontage of about 

 50 miles. The shore area is extensively developed for year-round 

 residential use between Pemberton Point and Brant Rock. In 19^0 the 

 permanent population of the coastal towns was about Uli,000. The 

 summer population of these towns is about three times the permanent 

 population. The population of the tributary area was about 1, £00,000 

 in 1950. The principal publicly owned sections of shore in the study 

 area are Nahtasket Beach in Hull, Brant Rock and Green Harbor Beaches 

 in Marshfield, Town Beach in Plymouth and Scusset Beach in Sandwich. 

 All are used for recreational bathing. 



The shores of the study area are fully exposed to waves of the 

 Atlantic Ocean, except that Cape Cod affords protection from easterly 

 to southerly waves, especially for the shore south of Plymouth. The 

 predominant direction of littoral drift is westward on shores oriented 

 in an east - west direction as west of Point Allerton, and generally 

 southward on those oriented in a north - south direction as south of 

 Manomet Point. On shores oriented in a northwest - southeast direc- 

 tion as between Point Allerton and Gurnet Point, there is little 

 predominance in direction df drift. Tides are semi-diurnal, the mean 



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