Hathaway Brown students spent one morning examining these ecosystems, gathering data, and comparing various findings. The Province Land Dunes were a main stop on our hike. A dune is a hill of sand piled up by the wind. The dunes are ecologically fragile and unstable. The height of dunes varies from a few dozen feet to over one hundred feet in several locations, such as near the Province Land Visitor Center on Race Point Beach.
Dunes are of two types - linear and parabolic.
Linear dunes, known as foredunes, are located just behind the beach, and are formed by onshore winds carrying beach sand inland to where it is caught by beach grass. Foredunes act as barrier dunes to protect the inland freshwater community from the ocean. The larger interior dunes are parabolic, or horseshoe shaped. The U-shapes of these dunes developed as the centers are blown out by the prevailing winds from the west. By the end of the week, students have hiked the dune trails, explored a swamp, mapped geological changes, visited with Cape Cod fishermen and historians, waded through tide pools, and watched humpback whales.