Eastham in Barnstable County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
Kettles
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, September 22, 2012
1. Kettles Marker
Inscription.
Kettles. . A bird's eye view of Cape Cod reveals a landscape dimpled with holes. Most of them are nearly round, and many are filled wit water, like Salt Pond in front of you.
Geologists call these intriguing depressions "kettles." They were formed over 18,000 years ago when the gigantic ice-age glaciers that covered this region began to melt.pSalt Pond is unique among the kettles of the outer Cape because it has been captured by the ocean. A tidal channel from Nauset Marsh has breached the opposite side of the kettle, allowing salt water to enter. Water levels rise and fall twice daily with the tides.
"Some of the valleys... are circular, a hundred feet drop without any outlet, as if the Cape had sunk in those places, or it sands had run out." , Cape Cod , Henry David Thoreau , 1863
A bird's eye view of Cape Cod reveals a landscape dimpled with holes. Most of them are nearly round, and many are filled wit water, like Salt Pond in front of you.
Geologists call these intriguing depressions "kettles."
They were formed over 18,000 years ago when the gigantic ice-age glaciers that covered this region began to melt.pSalt Pond is unique among the kettles of the outer Cape because it has been captured by the ocean. A tidal channel from Nauset Marsh has breached the opposite side of the kettle, allowing salt water to enter. Water levels rise and fall twice daily with the tides.
"Some of the valleys... are circular, a hundred feet drop without any outlet, as if the Cape had sunk in those places, or it sands had run out."
Cape Cod
Henry David Thoreau
1863
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Natural Features • Natural Resources. A significant historical year for this entry is 1863.
Location. 41° 50.237′ N, 69° 58.352′ W. Marker is in Eastham, Massachusetts, in Barnstable County. Marker is on Nauset Road. Marker is on the back side of the Salt Pond Visitors Center facing the water. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 50 Doane Road, Eastham MA 02642, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Workboat of the Marshes (a few steps from this marker); Eastham Remembers
1,000 feet
300 meters
ICE BLOCK
The huge ice block that helped to create Salt Pond probably covered an area larger than four football fields.
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, September 22, 2012
3. Kettles Marker
Kettles begin to form when blocks of ice become surrounded or buried by layers of clay, sand, and gravel that are deposited by streams at the edge of a melting ice sheet.
Melting Ice Ice Block
Outwash plain
Ice Blocks
Glacial till
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, September 22, 2012
4. Kettles Marker
The depressions that remain after the ice blocks melt are called "kettles."
Kettles which fall below the local water table fill with water to become "kettle ponds."
Moraine Kettle Ponds
Outwash Plain
Kettle Ponds
Water saturated zone - Glacial till
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, September 22, 2012
5. Peat
Some kettles eventually fill with dead vegetable matter, creating peat bogs.
Several such blogs on the Cape are used for cranberry growing.
Photographed By Sandra Hughes, September 22, 2012
6. Salt Pond behind the Visitor Center in Cape Cod
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on February 18, 2013, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 601 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on February 18, 2013, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
