SCIENCE REVIEW 1987 - Bedford Institute of Oceanography

problems in the Vancouver area may be
exacerbated in the future, but more
important will be the possible flooding of
the Fraser Delta. Costly modifications to
the existing dyke system may be required
to protect the very large real estate
investment on the low-lying delta plain,
primarily in the communities of Delta and
Richmond.
The British Columbia coast is in a
tectonically active area (the Cascadia
subduction zone lies west of Vancouver
island). Atwater (1987) reported on
evidence from adjacent Washington that
six major catastrophic subsidence events
and their associated tsunamis (tidal waves)
have occurred during the last 7000 years,
caused by major earthquakes. The hazards
associated with such events may outweigh
the slower effects of the postulated sea-level
rise.
Coastal research and global change
The International Geosphere Biosphere
Program is a broad initiative aimed at “a
fuller understanding of the earth as an
interconnected whole”. Canadian researchers
are well equipped to participate
in this international effort. We recognize
that the history of the past 20,000 years is
a record of change: the retreat and final
dissipation of great ice sheets, the subse-
quent northward migration of boreal and
temperate forest zones, and of course, the
rises and falls in relative sea-level as the
crust and ocean respond to the new
conditions. Now that we are aware of the
strong possibility of a rapid sea-level rise,
we will continue to gather information
about past sea-levels, since even in Atlantic
Canada there are large areas where the
nature of past changes remains uncertain.
Without this knowledge the local impact of
global trends cannot be predicted
adequately.
We will also continue with routine
coastal surveys to detect changes in coastal
configuration. New monitoring sites may
be established in Arctic areas which, as has
been suggested, may be especially susceptible
to change.
Finally of course, we shall continue to
watch for signs of the predicted rise. If and
when it happens, we should be prepared.
References
ATWATER, B.F. 1987 Evidence for great Holocene
earthquakes along the outer coast of Washington
State, Science, Vol. 236, 942-944.
BOYD, R., BOWEN, A.J. and HALL, R.K. 1987 An
evolutionary model for transgressive sedimentation on
the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, in Fitzgerald, D.M.
and Rosen, P.F. (eds.) Glaciated Coasts, Academic
Press.
CLAGUE, J.J. and BORNHOLD, B.D. 1980
Morphology and littoral processes of the west coast of
Ocean Mapping at the Atlantic Geoscience Centre
R. Macnab and D.J.W. Piper
R. Macnab
Introduction
A significant portion of Canada’s resource
heritage lies off our three coasts. Fishing
and mineral rights are now the nation’s
exclusive property out to 200 nautical
miles in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific
oceans. In the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans,
there is an additional potential for controlling
non-living resources over vast areas of
the sea bed beyond 200 miles: the terms of
this extended jurisdiction are defined in the
1982 United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea, and will be recognized
when sixty nations have ratified the
Convention (about half that number have
ratified so far).
Ultimately, Canada’s total marine resource
area (Figure 1) could be half the size
of the nation’s primary landmass; fully a
Canada, in The coastline of Canada, Geological
Survey of Canada, Paper 80-10, Ottawa.
FORBES, D.L. and FROBEL, D. 1985 Coastal
erosion and sedimentation in the Canadian Beaufort
Sea, in Current Research, Part B, Geological Survey
of Canada, Paper 85-lB, Ottawa, 69-80.
FORBES, D.L., TAYLOR, R.B., ORFORD, J.D.,
CARTER, R.W.G. and SHAW, J. 1988 Gravel
barrier migration and overstepping, in review.
GRANT, D.R. 1970 Recent coastal submergence of
the Maritime Provinces, Canada, Canadian Journal of
Earth Sciences, Vol. 7, 676-689.
GRANT, D.R. 1980 Quaternary sea-level change in
Atlantic Canada as an indication of crustal delevelling,
in Earth Rheology, Isostasy and Eustasy, N.A.
Momer (ed.) John Wiley and Sons, London, 201-
214.
HOFFMAN, J.S., KEYES, D. and TITUS, J.G. 1983
Projecting future sea level rise, 2nd rev. edn.,
Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
MARTEC LTD, 1987 Effects of a one metre rise in
mean sea-level at Saint John, New Brunswick and the
lower reaches of the Saint John River, Climate
Change Digest CCD-87-04, Environment Canada,
Ottawa.
PIPER, J.W., MUDIE, P.J., LETSON, J.R.J.,
BARNES, N.E. and LULIUCCI, R.J. 1986 The
marine geology of the inner Scotian shelf off the South
Shore, Nova Scotia, Geological Survey of Canada,
Paper 85-19, Ottawa.
SHAW, J. and FORBES, D.L. 1987 Coastal barrier
and beach-ridge sedimentation in Newfoundland, in
Proceedings, Canadian Coastal Conference 1987
(Quebec), National Research Council Canada, 437-
454.
TAYLOR, R.B., WITTMAN, S.L., MILNE, M.J. and
KOBER, S.M. 1985 Beach morphology and coastal
changes at selected sites, mainland Nova Scotia, Paper
85-12, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa.
D.J. W Piper
third of that - equalling the combined
areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and
Alberta - would lie beyond the 200 mile
limit.
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