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 The Bare and Bended Arm - Cape Cod National Seashore - Wellfleet, MA Posted by:  Lat34North
N 41° 54.800 W 069° 58.307
19T E 419409 N 4640610
This is the narrowest section of the Cape. From the ocean breakers to the estuary of the Blackfish Creek on the bay side, it's only one mile (1.6 km). Located on Marconi Station Rd, Wellfleet, MA
Waymark Code: WMMN74
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2014
Views: 3
[Quote on right side]
'There I had got the Cape under me, as much as if I were riding it bare-backed. It was not as on a map or seen from a stage coach; but there I found it all out-of-doors, huge and real, Cape Cod!'
Cape Cod, Henry David Thoreau 1865
[Left Column]
Thoreau called it the 'bared and bended arm of Massachusetts.' At this point you are midway between the elbow. On your left lies Cape Cod Bay and the mainland. On your right, the open sea.
This is the narrowest section of the Cape. From the ocean breakers to the estuary of the Blackfish Creek on the bay side, it's only one mile (1.6 km).
Geologically speaking, the landscape of Cape Cod is very young, a product of ice age glaciers which deposited vast valunes of rock, sand, and clay here only about 15,000 years ago. Today the Cape is slowly diminishing, as waves and winds dissipate its sands into the ocean an bay.
What Cape Cod Is Made Of
[red-brown square] Glacial moraine - Rocks of various sizes deposited when the ice melted near the edges of the glaciers.
[brown square] Glacial outwash - Chiefly sand and gravel carried from the decaying glaciers by meltwater streams and deposited in gently sloping plains.
[yellow square] Sandpits and Dunes - Bodies of sand which grow length and height as waves and winds transport and deposit sand along the shore. These relatively modern features continue to grow today.
Small arrows on the map show the net direction of sandpit growth.
[Middle Column]
[A map of the Cape, showing the main geologic features in the colors in the legend to the left, relative to your position, shown with a dot and callout. In particular, the glacial morraine is the 'V'-shaped feature that has the point around the Cape Cod Canal and a leg extending east and another extending south.]
[Right Column]
Cape Cod is made entirely of rocks carried here by glacial ice.
[Photo of a boulder]
Glacial erratic boulder
[Photo of layered material]
Beach sand
[Photo of grains of sand, magnified]
Certainly, the Cape is too large to be viewed from one vantage point. As you leave this area and travel on, try to view the Cape from the concepts on the sign.
Agency Responsible for Placement: National Park Service
Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): N/A
County: Barnstable
City/Town Name: Wellfleet
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
Year Placed: Not listed
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