GEO 112 (Capilano University): Vancouver Island Geography Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the geography of Vancouver Island, examining its climate, landforms, and geological history. It explores the island's oceanic climate, coal deposits, and the impact of plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanic activities. The report delves into the formation of sedimentary and volcanic rocks, and the evidence of aboriginal settlements. It also discusses the human activities, such as tree logging, and their influence on the landscape. The analysis includes the use of artefacts like coal, macerals, and aboriginal tools to support the theories regarding the landscape of the islands. Overall, the report provides a detailed analysis of the geographical features and processes that have shaped Vancouver Island over millions of years.

Running head: GEO 112(CAPILANO UNIVERSITY) 1
Geo 112(Capilano University)
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Executive summary
The geographical landforms of Vancouver islands have undergone a series of changes for
millions of years. There are various artefacts that can be obtained from the island to support the
theories regarding the landscape of the islands. Several pieces of artefacts can be obtained to
demonstrate the land forming processes that have taken place on the island over time. Processes
such as earthquakes, plate tectonic movements, and volcanicity. The dense forest is part of the
landscape of Vancouver. The human activities such as tree logging in Vancouver supports the
assertion that the fertility of the soil is responsible for the vegetation cover. A closer look at the
history of the island reveals that it was a natural habitat for animals too. Normally, animal and
human settlement in an area will depend on the availability of resources such as food and water.
Vancouver offered the optimum conditions for these kinds of settlements.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Vancouver’s Geography..............................................................................................................................5
1. Climate............................................................................................................................................5
2. Coal..................................................................................................................................................6
3. Coal minerals...................................................................................................................................7
4. Macerals..........................................................................................................................................7
5. Aboriginal tools................................................................................................................................8
6. Sedimentary rocks...........................................................................................................................9
7. Rocks..............................................................................................................................................10
8. Earthquakes...................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Vancouver being a large city in British Columba, Canada has great geography that can be
studied. The population of the city was close to 680,000 people in the census of 15 years ago.
The residents are diverse in terms of ethnicity. The location of the city is the west coast of British
Columbia. The city is also adjacent to the Strait of Georgia. To the south of Vancouver, there is
the Fraser River and the Burrard Peninsula to the east. The city was named after the British
captain, George Vancouver. The city has large forests and ancient trees which prove that it had
dense forests for several years. The terrain in the place is both hilly and flat which means that it
is diverse. The climate of Vancouver is oceanic with dry summer months. The average
temperature in July is 210C. The winters are rainy and have average temperatures of 0.50C. This
research centres on the landforms in Vancouver, Canada. Moreover, the paper aims at producing
a portfolio of the geographic physical features in the city over time. The artefacts collected in our
interaction with geographic materials will help in explaining the place geographically. The
geography of the city of Vancouver is diverse and has several features ranging from wildlife to
landforms and climate.

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Location of Vancouver. Retrieved from: ("Redirect Notice", 2020)
Vancouver’s Geography
1. Climate
Vancouver's climate is considered oceanic or marine west coast and its summer months
are dry. The average July high temperature is 71 F (21 C). Winters in Vancouver are usually
rainy and the average low temperature in January is 33 F (0.5 C). The location of the city is
testament to climatic conditions around. Climate may first be defined as the weather conditions
of a place from precipitation, to solar insolation, and the other weather conditions such as
humidity, wind, and moisture. Naturally, there should be a balance between the different
conditions for life to survive in any part of the planet (Tanigawa, et.al, 2017, December).
Moreover, there are balanced cycles such as the water cycles which involve precipitation and the
various stages and conditions of water in terms of the different states that it can be. Water can

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occur in a solid form such as ice and a gaseous state such as clouds and evaporation and a liquid
form such as rainfall and runoff. Moreover, water typifies the three states of matter correctly.
The geographical location of the city correctly predicts the climate of the place. The type of
rainfall, the seasons of the weather and the atmosphere are largely influenced by the location of
the city.
Vancouver Rocks. Retrieved from: (Anon, 2020)
2. Coal
Artefacts such as coal have been mined from Vancouver, British Columbia for centuries.
The geography of the place is revealed as consisting of great forests which enabled the formation
of the coals. Coals are fossilized decayed plant matter for over millions of years. Over the years,
the fossilized decayed matter undergoes several chemical changes in its properties and structure
to become combustible and turn colour to black. Coal mostly occurs as sedimentary rock and
forms as coal seams which are rock strata. The chief element in coal is carbon which is the
element of life. There are variations in the structure of coal which include other elements such as
hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen (Tanigawa, et.al, 2017, December). When this decayed matter is
buried it undergoes various changes due to the heat and the pressure that it is subjected to. The

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Canadian city of Vancouver used to be a wetland and can now be referred to as a coal forest. The
periods, the Permian and the Carboniferous times had great forests covering a majority of the
tropical lands of the planet. Canada is located in the northern hemisphere which means that the
solar intensity is less as compared to the regions closer to the equator. Hence, the changes would
likely occur in the years that come in the region.
3. Coal minerals
Geologically, coal has minerals, macerals, amber, fossils, and water. The presence of
amber in coals explains that the sedimentary rocks in Vancouver used to have minerals and
several pieces of jewellery moreover, a history of mankind demonstrates that the gemstone has
been appreciated as a jewel since the Neolithic times. The colour and natural beauty of amber
make it attractive to mankind as a jewel. Hence, the stone is considered as precious and has a
great value. Amber is formed from the wood resin of trees. The presence of several ambers in the
region is a testament of the forest nature of the geography before present times. Ancient times
prove that the region was covered with great and thick plant vegetation (Jackson, et.al, 2016).
The plant vegetation may also mean that the island had a great ecological property. The
ecological properties of the island define the balance between the flora and fauna on the same.
Life thrived on the island due to the existence of eth natural vegetation cover for millions of
years. Coal mines provide us with great artefacts to research on the ancient geography of the
island. Indeed, the geological properties of materials obtained from the island such as coals
reveal great information on the geography of the islands.
4. Macerals

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Macerals are some of the material obtained from the coal in the region. Macerals in coals
are analogous to minerals and are mostly found in ingenious metamorphic rocks. There are
various forms of macerals which include liptinite, inertinite, and vitrinite. Macerals are generally
viewed as dehydrogenated plant fragments. There are remains of pollen spores, and fossilized
leaves to indicate the evidence of the formation of macerals. In some cases, the sedimentary
rocks of Vancouver have been observed to contain macerals as part of the contents available.
Macerals are also observed under a microscope with the coal materials being highly polished
(Tanigawa, et.al, 2017, December). Otherwise, it may be hard to observe these minerals. The
observations of artefacts such as macerals on the remains extracted from the islands aid us in our
study of the ancient geography of Vancouver. Vancouver can be said to be a diverse habitable
land. The ancient dense forest cover can theoretically be deemed to have supported several fauna
lives. The remains of the aborigines also prove that human occupation of the islands was possible
for several thousands of years. The place was not too hostile for animals and human occupation
as seen by the artefacts of the aboriginal tools used by the early settlers on the islands of
Vancouver.
5. Aboriginal tools
Fossilized artefacts in the museums of the city are deemed as proof that there was an
aboriginal settlement in the place in the years between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. There are
preserved items which also show that life in Vancouver largely depended on the environment.
While the seasons varied from the extreme conditions to the more temperate conditions, the
islands were still habitable by primitive human beings for several millennia ago (Tanigawa, et.al,
2017, December). Artefacts such as hunting weapons, bones and other fossilized materials have
been obtained from Vancouver to support the assertion of human life on the islands. Vancouver

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provided the natural habitat for human settlement for several years. Hence, it was not an issue for
the aborigines to dwell on the islands for all those millennia. The materials prove that the
aborigines depended mostly on hunting as the source of their livelihoods. They lived hunting
whale sand sea animals. The remains prove that the island provided the opportunity for these
kinds of activities. Traditionally, the land was not cultivated much by these communities.
6. Sedimentary rocks
The Vancouver islands are made of mostly sedimentary and volcanic rocks. This is a
testament to the geography of the place. The presence of several rivers on the island explains the
reason for the sedimentary rocks observed in the city. The volcanic rocks on the surface of the
island were likely formed offshore more than 55 million years ago. The tectonic plate movement
between of the Kula was subducted with great strain below the continental margin of North
America (Jackson, et.al, 2016). A volcanic arc thus developed upon the fusion of the materials to
North America’s western edge. The episodic slip and tremor could be observed on the island as
well as another seismic phenomenon. Extreme warping took place due to continued subduction
involving the Kula and the North American Plates. Hence, there was a subsequent formation of
the insular mountains which are distorted. The Insular Mountains may be viewed as artefacts that
depict the geological properties of the plates on which the island is located. Most of the
mountains located on the island give clear evidence of the volcanic activities in the past.

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Volcanic activities and subduction in Vancouver. Retrieved from: ("vancouver geology - Google
Search", 2020)
7. Rocks
Volcanic activities that have taken place on the island for several millennia are
responsible for the expulsion of the volcanic rocks to the surface. In general, a volcanic rock
results from ejected lava from the ejected earth’s crust. The presence of artefacts such as igneous
rocks on the island proves that the processes have been taking place on the island. Magma can
form the igneous rocks below the surface of the earth to develop plutonic rocks. In some other
instances, the magma may be ejected to the surface to form the igneous volcanic rocks. A close
look at the mountain ranges in the region proves this theory of volcanic activities on the island.
On the other hand, volcanic materials such as rocks and soils are usually very fertile. Their

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fertility supports great plant vegetation. The dense plant cover that sees most of the region
covered in the dense forest shows the presence of volcanic soils (Hassan, et.al, 2019). Several
minerals are brought to the earth’s surface by volcanic activities. The economic activities in
Vancouver are largely dependent on logging. These activities are due to the dense nature of the
forest available. The forest provides great resources for lumbering and logging activities of
wood.
8. Earthquakes
Vancouver Island has experienced several instances of earthquakes due to its location and
the presence of lines of weakness. The main reason for the constant occurrences of earthquakes
and other seismic activities on the island is because an accretionary wedge was formed on
Vancouver Island. These geological activities have led to several geological activities on the
island with a line so weakness developing. These lines of weakness are collectively responsible
for the constant earthquakes on the island (Jackson, et.al, 2017). The region is actively
seismically due to the presence of the subduction zone in and the lines of weakness on the earth’s
crust. The zone of the North American coast is part of the “Pacific Ring of Fire.” Megathrust
earthquakes have occurred in the area in the past. The last major earthquake took place less than
a century ago on the island. The Richter scale recorded a magnitude of 7.3 in Canada. Hence,
human activities have to be conducted with the knowledge of the earthquakes in mind.
Otherwise, there may be catastrophic incidents such as the collapse of poorly constructed
buildings. If such a scenario takes place, the bad news is that major loss of lives and properties
may occur. Thus, the buildings are normally constructed using modern technologies to ensure
that they would survive such risks.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, the artefacts collected in our interaction with various materials from
Vancouver can help in explaining the place geographically. The geography in the city of
Vancouver is diverse and has several features ranging from wildlife to landforms and climate
(Slaymaker, 2016). Several artefacts may be used to describe the geography of Vancouver.
Various human activities such as logging, fishing, and agriculture provide artefacts to describe
the geography of the region. Moreover, the climatic conditions of Vancouver can be used to
explain the geographical properties of the region. It is possible to observe the aboriginal tools to
explain the human habitation of the islands which has taken place for several millennia. On the
other hand, the volcanic mountain ranges serve to explain the natural land forming activities
taking place on the island. The presence of sedimentary rocks and coals are also some of the
artefacts available to geographers and geologists. A close observation of the volcanic rocks on
the island reveals them as finely grained and sometimes glassy in structure. An extrusive
volcanic rock such as basalt became finely grained because it cooled rapidly. The fertile soil in
the region is also due to volcanic activities.