Fraser Lowland

The Fraser Lowland is a landform and physiographic region of the Pacific Northwest, in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. It includes much of the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia and a portion of Whatcom County, south of the Canada–US border. The American exclave of Point Roberts lies to the region's extreme southwest. The region lies adjacent to the coast of the Strait of Georgia between Bellingham Bay and Burrard Inlet. It extends east, through the relatively flat terrain between the Cascade Range and Coast Mountains, to the eastern end of the Fraser Valley near Hope. The Fraser River is the region's primary river, but the region also includes the Nooksack River and the lowlands between the two.[1]

Fraser Lowland
Landsat image of the Fraser Lowland, which stretches from Chilliwack in the northeast to the Strait of Georgia in the southwest. Sediment deposited by the Fraser River is clearly visible.
LocationBritish Columbia, Canada
Washington, United States
Coordinates49°2′N 122°34′W
Part ofGeorgia Depression

The Fraser Lowland is about 3,500 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi) in area. Its rich soil and mild climate make it prime agricultural land, and much of the region is farmland. The physical unity of the Fraser Lowland is politically divided by the international border into two approximately equal halves, although the population is much larger in the Canadian half.[2]

The main population center of the Fraser Lowland is Greater Vancouver. Other population centers on the Canadian side include Abbotsford and Chilliwack, both part of the Fraser Valley Regional District. About 2.4 million people live in the Canadian portion of the Fraser Lowland. The population on the American side is about 200,000, all in Whatcom County and dominated by Bellingham.[2]

As a physiographic region the Fraser Lowland is part of the Georgia Depression, which in turn is part of the Coastal Trough.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. Fraser Lowland Map, University of the Fraser Valley
  2. Imagining the Future of Cross Border Environmental Resource Management within the Fraser Lowland, University of the Fraser Valley
  3. Landforms of British Columbia: A Physiographic Outline, by S. Holland 1964 (revised 1976), British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Archived 2005-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Landforms of British Columbia: A Physiographic Outline- Physiographic map, by S. Holland 1964 (revised 1976), British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
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