What is Stellwagen Bank?
Stellwagen Bank is an underwater plateau at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, formed by the same processes that formed outer Cape Cod. As the ice sheets of the last Great Ice Age retreated, they left behind sand, gravel and rock. At one point in time (perhaps 12,000 years ago), Stellwagen Bank was actually above sea level, but as sea level rose and the glaciers continued to melt, the bank gradually submerged beneath the sea.