Science: Sinking Massachusetts

The coast of New England once stood higher than it does today. Notable evidence: the peat beds which are below the present sea level. Until recently scientists did not know whether the land was still sinking. Some thought that New England’s coastline had been stabilized.

In Science, Biologist Elso S. Barghoorn of Harvard tells about recent archaeological studies that have pretty well settled the question. Ancient Indian fish weirs found under Boston’s Boylston Street have been excavated and their age determined by carbon 14 dating. One weir proved to be about 4,500 years old. Its position below sea level indicates that the tidal flat on which it was built has sunk about 20 ft. This works out to an average submergence of roughly six inches a century since Massachusetts was occupied by the fish-catching Indians in 2,500 B.C.

Even more up-to-date evidence comes from a colonial ironworks at Saugus, north of Boston. In its remains, diggers have found many well-preserved wooden structures that now lie at levels covered every day by the tide. Since the colonial ironworkers had no trouble with tidal flooding, the land that their plant was built on must have sunk nearly three feet below tide level since 1650. Apparently modern Massachusetts is sinking even faster than it did before the Pilgrims landed.