Above is Sumas Mountain

 

The main natural resources that you can find in Abbotsford include: freshwater, sand, gravel, mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate, rare coal seam, quartz, granite, crops/fruits/vegetables, livestock. 

Geologic History

Since 250 million years ago, there have been many natural resources that the people of Abbotsford can benefit from in the Sumas Mountain ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013).

The oldest rocks in the Sumas Mountain are metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks that are from the Triassic to Jurassic eras ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013). These rocks are a portion of the Wrangellia terrane, which is a geological concept that goes along the east coast of Canada and Alaska. There are many glacial deposits and till throughout the mountain as well. During the Pleistocene Period which was 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago (Polly, D. 1994), Sumas mountain and the rest of Southern BC was glaciated various times. The loosely arranged sediments that cover Sumas Mountain were deposited by the glaciers.

18 to 16 thousand years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet reached a height of 2000 m ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013) in the southern Coast Mountains and northern Cascade Mountains (this is the Abbotsford area). The heavy weight of the glacier depressed the crust under this area by 300 m and many parts of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet occupied the lowlands/uplands and mountains ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013). The ice sheet grew more than 300km below the border between Canada and the United States("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013). Erratics from weathered and eroded bedrock were deposited in the lower mainland as the ice retreated.

The de-glaciations of the Cordilleran ice sheet soon began which took 5000 years ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013). As the ice sheets began to melt, the sea levels rose, causing the Fraser Valley and Sumas Mountain to flood. This led to rapid ice flow and deposition of large amounts of sediment and freshwater into the sea.

After 5000 years of melting, the paleo-geography had changed very much. Moraines, ice-contact glacial outwash and marine sediments were lifted above sea level and de-glaciated valleys and uncovered glacial marine slopes were covered with loosely arranged, saturated and unstable: clay, silt, sand and other sediments as well ("Fraser Valley Geotour", 2013).

There are a variety of industries that help Abbotsford grow as a city. The main ones include: agriculture, manufacturing, and aviation/transportation. As you can see, all three of them are different types of industries which is what makes Abbotsford so unique.

Agriculture:

Did you know that agriculture in Abbotsford produces 1.8 billion dollars to the GDP (25%) and creates 11,300 jobs ("Abbotsford the Agricultural City of Canada", n.d.)? Abbotsford is known for its farming and agriculture because of the amazing land and soil they have there. After the continuous amount of floods in the area back in the 1800s, logging seemed impossible to do, therefore the people of Abbotsford turned to agriculture to support the economy of their city. Abbotsford is able to grow some of the best crops in Canada and they are also known as "Vancouver's Breadbasket" since Vancouver buys so many of Abbotsford's crops to sell in their own city.

I think that agriculture is sustainable, just as long the farmers take good care of the land. It is a renewable resource, but it is possible for it to turn into a non-renewable one. I believe that agriculture will stay an important tradition and industry in Abbotsford, in the condition they sustainably grow their crops.

Manufacturing:

The largest manufacturing companies fall into the categories of produce, processing, seed, feed and fertilizer production, product storage and wood processing. A few industries are actually directly related to construction (ex. cabinet manufacture, concrete and building materials, metal products and welding). There are also manufacturing industries that are related to aviation. They build parts and equipment for not only planes, but for cars, fire trucks, etc.

I believe that manufacturing can be sustainable if the products needed to manufacture the product they are building. However, because so many other cities and countries have access to resources, manufacturing will not be hard to sustain as a main industry. However, once all of the resources are gone, manufacturing can no longer be a key provider to our economy, which is why we should take extra good care of our resources and try our best to sustain them and let them regenerate.

Aviation/Transportation: 

With its own international airport, a large part of Abbotsford's economy relies on aviation and transporting people around the world. The Abbotsford International Airport first started off as an important military base/ fort during World War 2, and after the war ended, the base was transformed into an international airport.

I believe that aviation is sustainable in Abbotsford because people are always moving from place to place in the world- imagine a world without airplanes! As well as that, the Abbotsford Airport is usually where people land before they go to Vancouver. Although aviation isn't very good for the environment, I believe, soon enough there will be new technology to solve the problem of pollution from the airplane's fuel.