The influence of delta growth on paleo‐tidal flow: Fraser River delta, British Columbia—Part 3: Paleo‐tidal flows and delta growth

Abstract

Tidal flow patterns computed at various stages of the tide (high tide, falling tide, ebb tide, low tide, and flooding tide) and at different chronological stages (9000, 6000, 4500, 3000, and 2300 years B.P. and the present) using tidal numerical models were presented and interpreted in relation to sedimentary processes and the growth of the Fraser River delta during the past 9000 years. The overall tidal flows are least affected by the deltaic growth at high tide than at any other state of the tide. The net tidal flow with the overall northerly component has a sedimentary effect, in that there is an asymmetry in the transportation of silt and clay with more of these fine materials moved to the north of the delta than to the south. There is also independent seismic evidence for the existence of a tidal channel some 2000 B.P. between Point Roberts and the Fraser delta. This study attempted to link closely the sedimentary structure of the deltaic growth of the Fraser River with the physical oceanographic processes.