Cyclical Behavior of the Tidal Inlet at Nauset Beach, Chatham, Massachusetts

Study of historical data concerning shoreline forms and change on southeastern Cape Cod over the past 200 years revealed a cyclical pattern of change in the barrier beach system off Chatham, Massachusetts, with a period of approximately 150 years. Based on the observed patterns and deductions concerning the processes controlling those patterns, predictions of breaching of the barrier beach and new inlet formation were provided to local coastal resource managers, reducing the negative impacts accompanying the formation of the new inlet when it eventually occurred.

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