The City of Dunkirk
is the first major city along the Lake Erie shoreline west of
Buffalo. The area covered by this site is the headland to the
west of the harbor called Point Gratiot, and contains Dunkirk
Beach, a U.S. Coast Guard Naval Reserve Station and Historic
Light House and Point Gratiot Park, a major City park (Dunkirk
USGS Topo Map).
Characteristics
Beginning on the east flank
of the headland, Dunkirk Beach is a wide, predominantly sand fillet
beach fronting and just west of the power plant. The beach then tapers
off to the west and bedrock becomes exposed at the waterline toward and
around the Point proper. The bedrock is primarily limestones and shales
and is highly jointed and fractured. This bedrock is overlain by till
deposits approximately 5-10m in thickness. Around the west side of the
headland, Point Gratiot park contains low bluffs fronted by a wide,
sandy beach
