Sternberg (1967) has estimated the river to deposit 690,000 cubic meters of sediment into Bellingham Bay annually.
The shoreline to the east of the [Nooksack River] delta has been significantly modified over the past decades by landfills, piers, and breakwaters for numerous port oriented industrial and commercial establishments associated with the port and City of Bellingham.
The Nooksack River has flowed between Lummi Bay, north of the Lummi Peninsula, and Bellingham Bay in the recent past (Easterbrook, 1973). At the turn of the century, the course of the river changed so that the main flow went into Bellingham Bay where it remains today.
The shoreline to the west of Nooksack delta has narrow beaches rimmed with low bluffs composed of glacial material.
