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Turbidite

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DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Turbidite
Thierry Muldera* and Heiko H€ unekeb
a
Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
b
Institut f€
ur Geographie und Geologie, Ernst Moritz Arndt Universit€at, Greifswald, Germany

Synonyms
Turbidity-current deposit; Turbidity-flow deposit (Bouma sequence)

Definition
A turbidite is a sedimentary bed deposited by a turbidity current or turbidity flow. It is composed of
layered particles that grade upward from coarser to finer sizes and ideally display a (complete or
incomplete) Bouma sequence (Bouma, 1962). Mud-dominated turbidites (fine-grained turbidites)
may show the sequence detailed by Stow and Shanmugam (1980). The etymology of the term
“turbidity current” relates to a turbid flow, which means a flow containing suspended particles.
In a much looser sense, the term turbidite is also used for deposits of other types of density flows
that develop a non-cohesive (frictional/granular) behavior. These include deposits of hypercon-
centrated flows and concentrated flows displaying divisions of the Lowe sequence (Lowe, 1982).
Sensu stricto, a turbidite is the deposit resulting from a turbulent flow.
Deep-sea turbidite systems along ocean margins and, in particular, submarine fans in front of
major river mouths host thick successions of turbidites as a major integral component. In addition,
individual turbidites cover abyssal plains beyond the limits of turbidite systems or may occur in
more shallow marine basins and even continental lakes, wherever gravity processes transport
suspended sediment sustained mainly by fluid turbulence (Middleton and Hampton, 1973).

Turbidity Currents and Related Density Flows

There are various perspectives appropriate to classify submarine gravity processes as summarized
by Mulder (2011). The predominant particle-support mechanism is the most commonly used
criterion to classify gravity processes in present-day deep-sea environments (Lowe, 1979; Middle-
ton and Hampton, 1973; Nardin et al., 1979). Four types of particle-support mechanism are usually
distinguished: matrix cohesive strength, grain-to-grain collisional interactions, fluid support (excess
pore fluid pressure, upward escape of pore water), and turbulent suspension.
The flow processes are best classified employing the rheology (mechanical behavior) of the
density flow (Dott, 1963; Mulder and Cochonat, 1996; Shanmugam, 2000). This type of classifica-
tion is also useful to choose an appropriate numerical model.
Classification relying on flow concentration includes characteristics that are derived from the
observation of deposits (Mulder and Alexander, 2001). It principally takes into account the flow

*Email: t.mulder@epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

transformation with space and time and its progressive dilution. Because of fluid entrainment, flows
may transform from hyperconcentrated to concentrated flow and finally to a turbidity flow.
Finally, much of our knowledge of turbidity-current deposition is inferred from extensive studies
of their deposits (Mutti and Ricci Lucchi, 1975; Pickering et al., 1989). This approach is extensively
used in research on ancient environments and in the oil industry. It is based on the classification of
sedimentary facies and its change along the pathway of the flow.
A turbidity current represents a “particulate density flow.” Widely accepted definitions of
turbidity currents (Lowe, 1982; Middleton and Hampton, 1973; Sanders, 1965) state that they are
sediment gravity flows in which the sediment is supported mainly by the upward component of fluid
turbulence. Within such turbulent flows, additional particle-support mechanisms may act near the
bed (turbidity current sensu lato). Mulder and Alexander (2001) used the Bagnold limit for full
turbulent particle support as a threshold value to define turbidity currents sensu stricto (9 % sediment
concentration by volume; Bagnold, 1962).
Based on flow duration and uniformity (L€ uthi, 1980), Mulder and Alexander (2001) differentiate
between (1) instantaneous surges (lasting over a period of hours to days), (2) longer-duration surge-
like flows, and (3) quasi-steady currents (persisting over a period of weeks to months). The
distinction between continuously moving currents and shorter-duration flows is important for
understanding the nature of its deposits.
Surges are very short-lived flow events that have the form of a traveling, isolated flow head.
Surge-like flows are also short lived but comprise a short flow body following the head. Probably,
such turbidity flows most often result from flow differentiation through dilution (water entrainment),
erosion, and acceleration from a density-flow type with higher sediment concentration (e.g., debris
flows, concentrated density flows) created by failures on continental slopes and canyon walls. Quasi-
steady turbidity currents typically form where a river discharges into a basin with the bulk density of
the effluent (sediment and water) being greater than that of the receiving ambient water, and thus
flow continues from the river onto the floor of the receiving shelf and into the deep sea (Mulder and
Syvitski, 1995). Such (suspended-load) hyperpycnal turbidity currents are termed quasi-steady, as
the flow is supplied by prolonged river flow. These flood-related flows frequently occur in rapidly
subsiding basins where steep slopes are present (Mutti et al., 1996).
The flow steadiness controls the organization of the resulting deposits (Kneller and Branney,
1995). A surge-like turbidity flow tends to produce classical Bouma sequences, whose detailed
characteristics at any one site depend on factors such as flow size, sediment type, and proximity to
source. In contrast, a quasi-steady turbidity current, generated by hyperpycnal river effluent, can
deposit a negatively graded division capped by positively graded divisions (because of waxing and
waning conditions, respectively) and may also include a thick division of uniform character
(resulting from prolonged periods of near-steady conditions (Kneller and Branney, 1995).
Any gravity flow may progressively change its character both with distance from the source of the
flow and with time at any one point (Fisher, 1983; Shanmugam, 2000). Typically, a slump-generated
hyperconcentrated density flow or debris flow is transformed along the transport path into concen-
trated density flow and finally into turbulent flow. These changed are controlled by parameters
related to the flow behavior (internal parameters) such as the rate of fluid entrainment and fine-
particle elutriation and by parameters related to the depositional environment such as gradient of the
continental slope, lateral confinement by channel levees, and bed roughness.
Flow transformation from a homogeneous sediment failure generates rapidly stratified flows with
a strong vertical velocity gradient. During most of its pathway, such a gravity flow remains bipartite,
in which the basal part is hyperconcentrated with a laminar regime (or concentrated) and the upper
part is more dilute where turbulence progressively develops (Sanders, 1965). A fining-upward

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Fig. 1 Diagram illustrating the physical character of subaqueous sedimentary density flows and their deposits
(Modified from Mulder and Alexander, 2001). Colors indicate sediment composition: green, diamictic sediment
composition with high proportions of cohesive material (mud); orange, sediments with low amounts of cohesive
particles; pastel orange, predominantly sand-sized sediment composition; yellow to light yellow, predominantly sand- to
silt-sized sediment composition, displaying vertical trends in grain size and sorting during flow (including variable
amounts of cohesive particles) and within the deposit

vertical grain-size distribution progressively forms only in the most diluted uppermost part of the
flow, while the basal part stays ungraded or displays a coarsening-upward grain-size distribution.
Successive sediment deposition by such a bipartite flow typically produces a Lowe sequence or parts
of it (Lowe, 1982; Fig.1).

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Deep-Sea Turbidite Systems

Turbidites are the most common and archetypal deposits forming deep-marine clastic systems at the
base of a slope along continental margins – together with related gravity-flow deposits and
hemipelagic and pelagic sediments. Reading and Richards (1994) provided a “matrix-shaped”
environmental classification of such turbidite systems based essentially on the feeder system and
grain size. The nature of the supply system (point-source submarine fan, multiple-source ramp, or
linear-source slope apron) regulates the feeder channel stability, the organization of the depositional
sequences, and the length/width ratio of the depositional system. Grain size and volume of the
sediment supplied (mud rich, mud/sand rich, sand rich, or gravel rich) influence on the slope
gradient, the persistence and frequency of flows, the pattern of morphological elements, and the
tendency for channels to migrate. Altogether, 12 classes are recognized in depositional systems of
deepwater basin margins (Reading and Richards, 1994). The character of these systems reflects a
complex interplay between a range of autocyclic and allocyclic controls including sea-level fluctu-
ations, basinal tectonics, and the rate, type, and nature of sediment supply.
Mutti (1985) proposed the efficiency concept, to differentiate between low-efficiency and high-
efficiency fan systems. High-efficiency fan systems (mud-rich systems) are those where gravity
flows are capable of transporting sand over long distances. Low-efficiency fan systems (sand-rich
systems), in contrast, are those where gravity flows are not capable of transporting sand over long
distances.

Architectural Elements of Deep-Sea Turbidite Systems

Turbidite systems are best described and interpreted in terms of its architectural elements (Miall,
1985; Pickering et al., 1995; Stow and Mayall, 2000). Firstly defined to describe river systems,
architectural elements are the elementary component parts of clastic depositional system which can
be delineated by a set of hierarchically grouped bounding surfaces and are classified by its facies
(sedimentary, acoustic, and seismic, respectively) and its architectural geometry (3D geometry and
orientation). Once these architectural elements are identified, their character and interrelation allow
the interpretation of sedimentary processes that formed them. It may help unravel complex depo-
sitional histories and understand the growth stages within turbidite systems (Clark and Pickering,
1996).
Architectural elements are commonly termed the large-scale building blocks of a “do-it-yourself”
depositional system. Both erosional and depositional processes control their formation. Architec-
tural elements of turbidite system typically include canyons, channels and gullies, channel levees
and overbank deposits, and various types of lobes, CLTZ (channel-levee transition zone; Wynn
et al., 2002), mass-transport complexes, or erosional slide and slump scours (see Mulder, 2011; Stow
and Mayall, 2000).
The concept of (architectural) elements in turbidite systems was introduced by Mutti and Normark
(1987). These authors established a spatial and temporal hierarchy of five nested orders (turbidite
complex, turbidite system, turbidite stage, turbidite substage, and turbidite bed) that allowed to
connect between observations at ancient systems in outcrop scale (analysis of sedimentary facies,
facies assemblages, and high-resolution stratigraphic correlation) and observations at recent systems
by means of geophysical investigations (seismic and acoustic data).
Most turbidite systems in modern oceans are point-source submarine fans fed by a major delta and
controlled by mud-dominated supply (Reading and Richards, 1994) although during a sea-level

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Fig. 2 Turbidite beds of the Carboniferous age at Crackington Haven, Cornwall, United Kingdom. (a) Individual beds
have sharp basal contacts, are tabular, and can be traced for long distances. Note that the succession is tectonically
overturned. Younging direction is to the lower right. (b) A complete Bouma sequence is preserved within some of the
positively graded sand-mud couplets

highstand, a substantial number of turbidite systems are fed by coastal drift. Their range extends
from 250 km for the Astoria fan, through larger ones like the Mississippi fan (540 km), the Zaire
(>800 km), and the Indus fan (1,500 km), to 2800 km for the giant Bengal fan. These turbidite
systems display a similar organization into three parts: (1) a canyon, (2) an erosional and then
depositional channel bordered with levees becoming progressively thinner and finer grained, and
(3) a distal lobe. The Amazon turbidite fan, which has a length of more than 700 km, is a well-
documented example (Flood and Damuth, 1987; Lopez, 2001; Fig. 2).

Conclusions
The present review shows that turbidite systems cannot be described simply by a few number of
parameters, and it is illusory to classify them according to a few number end-member models.
However, most of the data, ideas, and concepts come from a system fed by a siliciclastic source.
Morphology, geometry, architecture, nature of deposits, and transport sedimentary process
depend on a large number of parameters acting at different space and time scale: margin and basin
type, source of sediment (size and elevation of the drainage basin on continent, nature of its
substratum, type of climate), mean slope of the submarine basin, subsidence rate, exhumation, or
isostasy rate on the continent. At short time scale, other parameters may be of importance to
understand the triggering and deposition of individual gravity-flow beds: structural context and
neotectonics (earthquake frequency and magnitude, seepage of fluids), eustatic changes (potential
sediment storage on the continent, shelf processes, local bathymetry changes), and climatic changes
(erosion, dissolution process and CCD (carbonate compensation depth) variations, vegetal cover on
the continent, flood rate and magnitude).
Some of these processes are cyclic (eustatic changes, climate); some are not (earthquakes).
A global understanding necessitates a complete reconstruction of paleoenvironment and efficient
tools to obtain a proper stratigraphic frame in deep-sea clastic systems.

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_145-1
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Cross-References
▶ Bouma Sequence
▶ Continental Rise
▶ Continental Slope
▶ Deep-Sea Fan
▶ Deep-Sea Sediments
▶ Submarine Canyon

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# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

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