New Westminster's Royal City roots run deep — literally. Founded in 1859 on the north bank of the Fraser River, much of the downtown core and Sapperton sits atop deltaic deposits laid down over millennia. Glacial till, marine silts, and Fraser River sands stack up in complex layers. Go down 5 meters near Columbia Street and you might hit dense till. Move toward Queensborough and the soil turns to soft organic clays. Grain size analysis (sieve + hydrometer) unpacks this mix. It quantifies exactly what proportion is gravel, sand, silt, or clay. That distribution drives everything: soil classification per the Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual, permeability estimates, frost susceptibility, and even seismic response. When we run a combined sieve and hydrometer test per ASTM D422 and D7928 standards, we produce a full particle-size distribution curve — the foundation for liquefaction assessment in zones underlain by loose Fraser River sands.
A grain size distribution curve is not a routine lab report — it is the soil's fingerprint. Without it, every classification and every bearing capacity equation is just a guess.
