Hutchinson, I., Patterson, R.T., Mathewes, R.W. 1998. Plant macrofossil, pollen, diatom, and foraminiferal biofacies of the Fraser delta. Geology of the Fraser River Delta. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 525: 161-175.
Small-scale variations in relief across the 1000 km2 Fraser River delta platform and associated variations in tidal submergence, water-table depth, substrate salinity, sediment accumulations rate and sediment mobility support a diverse array of marine and terrestrial ecological communities. This mosaic of wet meadows and shrubland, bogs and riparian woodlands above the high tide mark, and marshes, sandflats and mudflats in the intertidal zone (often greatly modified by agricultural activity and urban development) can be linked by a successional model that relates the nature of the ecological community to the elevations of the deltaic platform and the character of the substrate. Palaeoecological investigations of plant microfossil, pollen, diatom and foraminiferal biofacies have proven useful in: 1) reconstructing the late glacial and early Holocene oceanic conditions in the Strait of Georgia; 2) reconstructing small-scale eustatic and coseismically generated relative sea-level changes; 3) assessing flooding frequency in interdisciplinary areas; and 4) developing models to explain autogenic changes associated with fire occurrence in raised bogs, which may lead to improved bog conservation measures.