The Town of Duxbury is located in Plymouth County.
It is 33 miles south of Boston and is bordered by Marshfield to the north,the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Kingston to the
south, and Pembroke to the west. The topography of Duxbury is divided between more rugged upland terrain with gravelly and
rocky soils in the western part of the town and lowlands in the east.
The underlying bedrock geology of the town consists
of granitic schist and gneiss of Proterozoic Era (2500-542 million years ago) origin. Outcrops of granite occur in the western
part of the town especially at the intersection of Franklin and Temple Streets. Two principle classes of Wisconsonian Stage
glacial deposits overlay the bedrock. The first are poorly sorted till deposits composed of relatively packed silt and clay.
These occur in locations such as Powder Point, Standish Shores and the Phillips Brook lowlands. Stratified drift deposits
are the second type. These soils form the aquifer for the town and occur in the central, southeastern and eastern portions
of the town. One other isolated deposit is a fossil lake bottom at Bay Farm. This lake bottom deposit is composed of clay
and compressed material, making it of no residential use but providing a reliable source for clay.
Soils in the town are primarily of the Scituate-Essex-Merrimac
variety or Hinckley-Merimac-Muck type. Only 3% of the soils are Hinckley-Carver associated. Generally these soils are well-drained
to excessively well-drained and occur on level to very steeply sloped areas. Carver soils are present in the project area.
Soils at the project area are all Carver coarse sand on 3-8% slopes. Carver soils consist of very deep extremely drained sandy
soils that are ill suited for agricultural use, due to their permeability. Rocks found in this series range from fine gravel
size to stones and generally average less than 10% of the composition of the soil.
The project area is located at the head of Morton's
Hole, a salt water bay. A small unnamed fresh water stream is located approximately 500 feet to the south of the project area
and Island Creek is located within one half of a kilometer to the west.
