[JOHNSTON] PLEISTOCENE OSCILLATIONS 11 



of New Westminster and across its seaward front is 14 miles wide. 

 The Recent delta is bounded on the north by an upland area extending 

 east to New Westminster and north for 5 miles to Burrard Inlet, at 

 the seaward entrance of which the city of X'ancouver is situated. 

 The inlet extends east for 14 miles and is bounded on the north by 

 the Coast Range and on the south by an escarpment in the Eocene 

 rocks, which at one place near the eastern end of the inlet rises to 

 1,125 feet above the sea. The upland area between Burrard inlet 

 and the recent delta of the Fraser has a general elevation of 200 to 

 300 feet above the sea and consists in the southern part largely of 

 drift deposits and in the northern part of rock ridges veneered with 

 drift. At New W^estminster the Fraser fîows in a comparatively 

 narrow ^'alley IK miles wide between two upland drift areas. The 

 area south of the river has a general elevation of 200 to 300 feet above 

 the sea and extends for 7 miles southeast to the Nicomekl-Serpentine 

 valley. This valley is continuous through to the Fraser river at 

 Fort Langlely, 15 miles above New Westminster, and represents a 

 post-glacial outlet channel of the Fraser which was abandoned during 

 the period of post-glacial uplift when the land was about 5.0 feet lower 

 than it is at present. Since that time the Fraser has occupied its 

 present main channel past New W^estminster. South of the 

 Nicomeckl-Serpentine valley and extending to the International 

 Boundary is another upland drift area 200 to 400 feet above the sea. 

 In the seaward part of the Recent delta, at the International Boundary 

 the highland area of Point Roberts has been joined to the mainland 

 by the construction of the delta. It has a fairly even upper surface 

 and a general elevation of about 200 feet above the sea. This upland 

 area, as well as parts of those extending south from New Westminster 

 to the International Boundary, were considered by Daly and LeRoy 

 as remnants of the late Pleistocene Fraser delta which was dissected 

 by the present stream as the result of post-glacial elevation. Bur- 

 wash, however, holds that the flat-topped upland areas are composed 

 largely of stratified deposits, which are interglacial in age and which 

 were much eroded previous to the deposition of the till sheet ov^erlying 

 them. 



The Pleistocene and Recent Deposits 



The Pleistocene deposits of the region are remarkably thick and 

 complex in character. The succession of deposits, as pointed out 

 by Burwash,' is in the main similar to that in the Puget Sound region 



1 Ibid., p. 80. 



