Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Marine and Petroleum Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpetgeo

Hybrid sediment gravity flow deposits – Classification, origin and significance

Peter Haughton a, *, Christopher Davis a, William McCaffrey b, Simon Barker c
a
UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
b
Institute of Geological Sciences, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
c
BG Group, 100 Thames Valley Park Drive, Reading, Berkshire RG6 1PT, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The deposits of subaqueous sediment gravity flows can show evidence for abrupt and/or progressive
Received 4 March 2008 changes in flow behaviour making them hard to ascribe to a single flow type (e.g. turbidity currents,
Accepted 15 November 2008 debris flows). Those showing evidence for transformation from poorly cohesive and essentially turbulent
Available online 1 April 2009
flows to increasingly cohesive deposition with suppressed turbulence ‘at a point’ are particularly
common. They are here grouped as hybrid sediment gravity flow deposits and are recognised as key
Keywords:
components in the lateral and distal reaches of many deep-water fan and basin plain sheet systems.
Sediment gravity flow
Hybrid event beds contain up to five internal divisions: argillaceous and commonly mud clast-bearing
Turbidite
Linked debrite sandstones (linked debrite, H3) overlie either banded sandstones (transitional flow deposits, H2) and/or
Transitional flow structureless sandstones (high-density turbidity currents, H1), recording longitudinal and/or lateral
heterogeneity in flow structure and the development of turbulent, transitional and laminar flow
behaviour in different parts of the same flow. Many hybrid event beds are capped by a relatively thin,
well-structured and graded sand–mud couplet (trailing low-density turbulent cloud H4 and mud
suspension fallout H5). Progressive bed aggradation results in the deposits of the different flow
components stacked vertically in the final bed. Variable vertical bed character is related to the style of
up-dip flow transformations, the distance over which the flows can evolve and partition into rheological
distinct sections, the extent to which different flow components mutually interact, and the rate at which
the flows decelerate, reflecting position (lateral versus distal) and gradient changes. Hybrid beds may
inherit their structure from the original failure, with turbidity currents outpacing debris flows from
which they formed via partial flow transformation. Alternatively, they may form where sand-bearing
turbidity currents erode sufficient substrate to force transformation of a section of the current to form
a linked debris flow. The incorporation of mud clasts, their segregation in near-bed layers and their
disintegration to produce clays that can dampen turbulence are inferred to be key steps in the generation
of many hybrid flow deposits. The occurrence of such beds may therefore identify the presence of non-
equilibrium slopes up-dip that were steep enough to promote significant flow incision. Where hybrid
event beds dominate the entire distal fan stratigraphy, this implies either the system was continually out
of grade in order to freight the flows with mud clasts and clays, or the failure mechanism and transport
path repeatedly allowed transmission of components of the initial slumps distally. Where hybrid beds are
restricted to sections representing fan initiation, or occur more sporadically within the fan deposits, this
could indicate shorter episodes of disequilibrium, due to an initial phase of slope re-adjustment, or
intermittent tectonically or gravity-driven surface deformation or supply variations. Alternatively,
changes between conventional and hybrid event beds may record changes in the flow generation
mechanism through time. Thus the vertical distribution of hybrid event beds may be diagnostic of the
wider evolution of the fan systems that host them.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

A variety of sediment gravity flows shape underwater slopes and

deliver clastic sediment to deep-water basins (e.g. Nemec, 1990;
Stow et al., 1996; Mulder and Alexander, 2001). The flows have
* Corresponding author. different rheologies (fluidal versus plastic) and may exhibit laminar,
E-mail address: peter.haughton@ucd.ie (P. Haughton). mixed or turbulent behaviour giving rise to deposits with

0264-8172/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.02.012
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
a characteristic geometry, texture and internal structure (e.g.
debrites, ‘slurry flow’ deposits, turbidites). Observations from the
modern sea floor (e.g. McCave and Jones, 1988; Zeng et al., 1991;
Talling et al., 2007), cores (Haughton et al., 2003) and laboratory
experiments (e.g. Marr et al., 2001), together with facies correlations
in deep-water successions at outcrop (e.g. Talling et al., 2004) have
shown that the inferred turbulence state and rheology can vary
spatially and/or temporally during the course of a single transport
event. The term flow transformation describes changes in flow state
between laminar and turbulent states with or without intervening
‘transitional flow’ conditions, or visa versa (Fisher, 1983; Waltham,
2004). Transitional flow here refers to the turbulence structure
developed as the flow transits from high to low or low to high
Reynolds number; this is currently poorly characterised for sediment
gravity flows but evidence from the deposits of decelerating clay-
rich currents suggests it can involve cycling between more and less
turbulent state reflecting the development of cohesive near-bed
layers (Lowe and Guy, 2000). As many event beds aggrade
progressively, they can capture temporal changes in flow structure
(Kneller and McCaffrey, 2003) and thus give insights into longitu-
dinal flow transformations and associated changes in flow rheology:
the deposit may include vertically juxtaposed intervals deposited
under different flow regimes. To date, most attention has focussed
on proximal transformation from plastic laminar to fluidal turbulent
behaviour, but as the distal ends of deep-water systems become
better characterised, evidence for the reverse transformation (i.e.
turbulence suppression and a change via transitional flow regime to
cohesion-dominated transport and laminar flow) has been increas-
ingly encountered (Chang and Grimm, 1999; Lowe and Guy, 2000;
Haughton et al., 2003; Sylvester and Lowe, 2004; Talling et al., 2004;
Barker et al., 2008). The outer lateral and distal parts of many
systems are now recognised to include hybrid event beds emplaced
by a combination of fluidal and plastic flow recording switching
between turbulent, transitional and laminar behaviour. Such beds
challenge existing deposit classification schemes, and demand
a better understanding of the processes leading to the partitioning of
the flow into sections with different rheology and turbulence state.
The aims of this paper are (1) to re-examine the classification of
sediment gravity flow deposits in the light of evidence for hybrid
rheology and flow state within a single flow; (2) to document the
variable character and distribution of hybrid event beds across
a range of deep-water systems and (3) to consider the wider signif-
icance of hybrid event beds for their host system and to examine why
they are well expressed in some systems, but not in others.
2. Classification of sediment gravity flows
Sediment gravity flows are characterised by a wide range of
sediment concentration, particle cohesion, particle support mech-
anisms, duration and rheology. Several classification schemes
(e.g. Pickering et al., 1989; Nemec, 1990; Ghibaudo, 1992; Stow and
Johansson, 2000; Mulder and Alexander, 2001) have been proposed
to capture the spectrum extending from dense, laminar cohesive
flows (debris flows) to dilute fully turbulent flows (turbidity
currents) and their deposits. Whilst there is general agreement on
the flows and deposits at either end of the spectrum, the definition
of intervening flow types has proved less satisfactory. This is partly
because such flows are hard to observe and instrument in nature
and the flow characteristics must be inferred indirectly and with
difficulty from the sedimentary record (Kneller and Buckee, 2000).
In addition, the behaviour of the flows can be critically controlled
by small amounts of suspended clay, the flows can be strongly
vertically heterogeneous with deposition occurring mainly from
poorly characterised near-bed layers, they can evolve and change
character laterally, and once deposited structures may be
1901
significantly overprinted by syn-to post-depositional water escape
and autodeformation. The deposit may merely reflect the condi-
tions operating during collapse of the flow and early consolidation,
rather than during the prior transport phase. A further complica-
tion is that single remobilisation events may generate more
than one type of flow, or flows that show complex longitudinal
differentiation.
Most classifications focus on stand-alone flow types and associ-
ated particle support mechanisms. Mulder and Alexander (2001)
distinguish hyperconcentrated and concentrated density flows in
between cohesive debris flows and turbidity currents. In their classi-
fication, turbidity currents are defined as currents in which fluid
turbulence provides the ‘main’ particle support, whereas particle
interactions dominate support in hyperconcentrated flows, and
a combination of grain-to-grain interactions, fluid escape and
turbulence in the case of concentrated flows. Kneller and Buckee
(2000) point out that the manner of deposition from friction-domi-
nated (i.e. non-cohesive) flows remains uncertain and it can be
difficult to deduce flow behaviour from the sedimentary record. They
instead advocate the broad use of the term turbidity current for any
gravity-driven, ‘turbid’ and not necessarily fully turbulent mixture of
(suspended) sediment and water travelling through a less dense
fluid. However, it is still useful to retain the distinction between
essentially fully turbulent (low-density turbidity flows) that emplace
generally planar and ripple laminated sand and finer grained beds
and mixed mode, higher-concentration but still non-cohesive flows
(high-density turbidity flows) that tend to emplace sand and/or gravel
(Lowe, 1982; Mutti, 1992). The key distinction between debris flows
and turbidity currents is thus the mode of deposition viz a viz
en-masse freezing versus progressive aggradation, either grain by
grain, or layer by layer (e.g. Kneller and Branney, 1995; Lowe and Guy,
2000; Haughton et al., 2003; Amy and Talling, 2006).
Whilst flow classification schemes have focussed on discrete
flow states defined by the degree of turbulence and the importance
of cohesion, event beds displaying evidence for abrupt, progressive
or cyclical changes in flow behaviour during deposition are
commonplace yet hard to place in existing schemes. An alternative
or complementary classification focuses on the deposit and the
inferred rheology(ies) and turbulence state of the flow type that
created it (Fig. 1). The scheme distinguishes the deposits of flows
that were either cohesive (debris flows, mudflows), non-cohesive
(low- and high-density turbidity currents, cohesionless debris
flows) or show evidence for mixed behaviour at a point (composite
flows). ‘At a point’ is specified because debris flows commonly
evolve to become turbidity currents due to flow transformations as
they travel basinward (e.g. Piper et al., 1999). Consequently, upslope
debrites can be lateral to turbidites down-dip. However, the
emphasis here is on changes in flow behaviour as the flow passes
a point, and the record of longitudinal flow structure captured
vertically in a bed (cf. Kneller and McCaffrey, 2003). Note that ‘bed’
is used throughout this paper in the sense of an ‘event bed’ – it may
include prominent internal lithological divisions that relate to
stacking of different or evolving flow types.
Three end-member types of mixed behaviour are evident from
vertical bed sequences (Fig. 1): (1) beds that show evidence for an
upward change from cohesive to non-cohesive transport; (2) beds
that show an upward change from non-cohesive to cohesive
behaviour, sometimes capped by deposits of non-cohesive flow
again; and (3) beds that record more complex cyclical alternations
between the deposits of more and less cohesive flow.
2.1. Outsized ‘megabeds’
The first bed type comprises debrite–turbidite couplets that
tend to occur as isolated, unusually large-volume event beds, often
1902 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Fig. 1. (A) Classification scheme for event beds emplaced by subaqueous sediment gravity flows recognising that many are the deposits ‘at a point’ of non-cohesive, cohesive and in
some cases transitional flow types. (B) Whereas ‘stand-alone’ debrites and turbidites (either high or low density) dominate the record of many deep-water systems and are arranged
in facies tracts recording downslope transformation and increasing dilution of the flow (debrites passing to high-density turbidites and eventually low-density turbidites
down-dip), other systems show a down-dip progression for non-cohesive flows (depositing turbidites) to flows that are partitioned into sections with radically different rheology,
with the deposits of cohesive flow components increasingly dominating in distal parts.

on the floors of confined basins or fjords (Kleverlaan, 1987;
Seguret et al., 1984). Some have been related to seismic triggering
(and referred to as seismoturbidites although they are not wholly
produced by turbidity currents; Mutti et al., 1984; Bouma, 1987;
Syvitski and Schafer, 1996). The stacking of turbidite sand on
debrite can be related to surface transformation due to reverse
shear whereby mixing at the front of a debris flow produces
a trailing turbulent wake as illustrated experimentally by
Hampton (1972). Alternatively, an initial cohesive failure may
trigger a subsequent sand failure by breaching or setting up
seiches in confined basins (Kleverlaan, 1987). Debrite–turbidite
‘megabeds’ tend to record rare large magnitude events against
a background of ‘normal’ gravity current deposition (Mutti et al.,
1984; Haughton, 2000).
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
2.2. Turbidites with linked debrites
The second category of mixed behaviour is expressed in beds
whose thickness is not outsized compared to that of related event
beds. This bed type is common, particularly in distal and lateral
margins of deep-water systems where it may be the dominant bed
motif. Although the facies expression varies (see below), beds in
which a transition from non-cohesive to cohesive rheology is
inferred are grouped as ‘hybrid’ event beds. Haughton et al. (2003)
identified a recurring facies association in the fringes of several
sand-prone, syn-rift Jurassic submarine fans in the North Sea Basin.
Sandstone beds displaying full or partial Bouma sequences are
surprisingly rare in these systems. Instead, the most common distal
bed-scale facies unit is a couplet comprising a lower, poorly graded,
dewatered or structureless sandstone, capped by an argillaceous
sandstone or sandy mudrock characterised by common (often
exotic) mud clasts and carbonaceous matter, and complex internal
fabrics including sheared sand injections. These occur lateral to and
down-dip from amalgamated to isolated structureless and/or
dewatered sandy turbidite beds – where conventional models
(e.g. Lowe, 1982) would predict the occurrence of well-laminated,
relatively thin sandy beds deposited by dilute turbidity currents.
These turbidite–debrite couplets occur repeatedly, always with the
debrite on top of the structureless sandstone, and with evidence
that the underlying sand was still wet and actively dewatering
when the debrite overrode it. Thus, they are thought to reflect
deposition from a rapidly decelerating sandy turbidity current,
immediately followed by deposition from a clast-rich debris flow
emplaced as part of the same event. The turbidity current and
debris flow became partitioned up-dip. Because the debrite units
are most obvious and best developed in the more distal parts of the
fan systems, the presence of an underlying actively dewatering,
‘‘quick’’ sand bed may be important as this can both nourish the
trailing debrite with water and sand, and provide a low-friction
basal contact, thus accounting for debrite mobility (see Mohrig
et al., 1998; Gee et al., 1999). The term ‘linked debrite’ was intro-
duced for the upper clast-rich divisions (not the whole hybrid event
bed) to emphasise that they are part of the sand emplacement
event, as opposed to ‘stand-alone’ debrites (Haughton et al., 2003).
Similar hybrid beds are recognised widely from the distal and
lateral margins of other systems, although the facies expression can
vary, an issue we return to below. These event beds may be capped
by the deposits of low-density turbidity currents (e.g. Tcde, Tde), to
produce turbidite–debrite–turbidite triplets (cf. McCaffrey and
Kneller, 2001).
2.3. Britannia-style slurry/banded beds
The third category of mixed behaviour occurs across a range of
scales, but is best expressed in relatively thick, clay-rich but sand-
prone event beds. Lowe and Guy (2000) and Lowe et al. (2003)
drew attention to repetitively stacked lighter and darker ‘bands’ in
cores through thick graded Lower Cretaceous event beds in the
Britannia Field of the UK North Sea. Similar fabrics can also be seen
in some outcrops (albeit often subtle; Sylvester and Lowe, 2004).
The banded structure was attributed to flows that were interme-
diate between fully turbulent and laminar flow behaviour, with
episodic near-bed turbulence dampening forced by clay inter-
particle electrical bonding following clay floc disintegration. Lowe
and Guy (2000) adopted the term ‘slurry flow’ for the depositing
flow. However, the term had already been applied by Wood and
Smith (1958, 1959) to mud-rich, commonly ungraded and unban-
ded sandstones associated with sandier turbidite deposits from the
Aberystwyth Grits Series in Wales, and resembling the hybrid
turbidite–debrite couplets introduced above (see also Postma et al.,
1903
1988, their Fig. 1). Slurry flow in terrestrial settings is used in yet
another context to refer to plastic flows with behaviour akin to
debris flows (Pierson and Costa, 1987). In addition, the term slurry
flow is also commonly used in engineering to refer to a wide
range of (generally pipe) flows including relatively dilute particle
suspensions. It thus seems prudent not to identify slurry flow as
a distinct type of flow nor its deposit as a stand-alone bed type.
Although the origin of the banding has been disputed (c.f. the
chlorite gelation model of Blackbourn and Thomson, 2000), the
idea that it forms due to processes operating during the transition
between turbulent and laminar behaviour is borne out by the
context of banding in hybrid event beds where it tends to span the
transition from cleaner lower sand to clay-prone upper sand or
sandy mud (the deposit of turbidite and debrite respectively). Even
in Britannia, banding sits between clean ‘S3’ sandstone (interpreted
as non-cohesive turbidites sensu lato) and muddy sandstone with
clasts attributable to debris flow processes (Barker et al., 2008);
single Britannia beds thus include elements deposited by a range of
flow types (and partly overprinted by intrabed remobilisation) and
to label these as the product of a single flow type obscures the
rheological heterogeneity of the original flows. Beds with internal
banded divisions are here considered as a hybrid event bed variant.
To summarise, from a pragmatic viewpoint and recognising that
the link between deposit and original flow is not straightforward,
sediment gravity flow deposits may be broadly classified as either:
(1) debrites emplaced en-masse by freezing of laminar or weakly
turbulent cohesive flows; (2) low-density turbidites deposited by
dilute and fully turbulent non-cohesive flows that aggraded
progressively; (3) high-density turbidites, deposited by concentrated
non-cohesive flows commonly with suppressed near-bed turbu-
lence and particle support from a combination of turbulence,
particle interactions and fluid escape (Lowe, 1982). These may have
aggraded progressively either grain by grain, layer by layer, or
partly en-masse (cf. Shanmugam, 1996), and (4) hybrid flow deposits
deposited by flows that transition or switch from non-cohesive to
cohesive behaviour during deposition, followed by a variably
developed, but generally volumetrically minor dilute turbulent
wake. Typically the lower part of the bed is attributed to a high-
density turbidite, whereas the upper part is a debrite. They are thus
partly progressively aggraded, and partly emplaced en-masse or in
pulses. Where transformation was progressive, hybrid flow
deposits may include thick intervals deposited under transitional
flow conditions (sensu Britannia Formation). Megabeds involve
transformation from cohesive, laminar or weakly turbulent flow to
non-cohesive turbulent flow and are classified with hybrid beds as
part of a wider family of composite event beds.
3. Character of hybrid event beds
Since the description of hybrid event beds and linked debrites
from the Upper Jurassic of the North Sea (Haughton et al., 2003),
similar and related beds have been encountered in a range of other
turbidite systems (e.g. Sylvester and Lowe, 2004; Talling et al.,
2004, 2007; Amy and Talling, 2006; Fig. 2). Such beds have also
been documented before in earlier outcrop studies (Wood and
Smith, 1958, 1959; Ricci Lucchi and Valmori, 1980). These studies
concur in suggesting hybrid event beds are preserved primarily in
the lateral and or distal edges of systems otherwise dominated by
turbulent flow processes, and reveal a wider spectrum of vertical
facies transitions and bed types which are summarised below,
drawing on new subsurface data from NW European Jurassic,
Cretaceous and Cenozoic deep-water systems of the North Sea, the
Cenozoic of the UK Atlantic margin, offshore Norway and the Gulf
of Mexico. In addition, Carboniferous outcrops in Ireland and
northern England, the Appennine foredeep, Italy (Macigno Fm.,
1904 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Fig. 2. Selected logged hybrid event bed profiles (note variable scale) from cores in the public domain across a range of North Sea deep-water systems (Jurassic, Cretaceous and
Cenozoic examples). These illustrate how widespread beds of this type are, the range of hybrid event bed styles and thicknesses, and the difficulty of assigning such beds to existing
deep-water process-based classification schemes. Examples are from (A) Upper Jurassic Magnus Sandstone Formation, northern North Sea, well 211/12a-M16; (B) Lower Cretaceous
Bed 78 in well 16/26-B2, Britannia, Field, Central North Sea; (C) Upper Jurassic, Kingfisher Field, well 16/8a-4, south Viking Graben, North Sea; (D) Palaeocene Forties Sandstones,
well 22/9-2, Everest Field, central North Sea; (E, F) Palaeocene Forties Sandstones, well 23/22a-3, Pierce Field, central North Sea; (G, H) Upper Jurassic, Kingfisher Field, South Viking
Graben, North Sea, well 16/8a-4; (I, J) Palaeocene Forties Sandstones, well 23/22a-3 Pierce Field, central North Sea.

Cilento flysch), as well as other published examples (see above)
inform the descriptions. A key question concerns the significance of
the different hybrid bed types. In describing this range, cored
examples (both modern and ancient) are important as they
can provide very clean sections through the argillaceous bed
tops that commonly are weathered and poorly preserved in outcrop
(although there are exceptions e.g. Marnoso Arenacea). For
example, the development of banding is often best seen on cut
surfaces (Sylvester and Lowe, 2004). A drawback, however, is that
event definition can sometimes be ambiguous due to large, bed
parallel, core-traversing mud clasts in the debritic component of
the beds that can masquerade as background intervals. Bio-
turbation can overprint/mimic the bed top fabrics; accordingly
most of the examples examined are chosen from anoxic basins
where the structures preserved are physical and the result of flow
emplacement and not later disturbance.
3.1. Facies motifs
The basic motif that all hybrid event beds share is a cleaner,
sandier, lower portion to the bed and an upper, generally darker
appearing, poorly sorted and/or chaotically structured muddier
sand or sandy mud division (Figs. 2–4). Unlike conventional
turbidites where clays are fractionated during flow and settle from
suspension to generate a discrete mud cap, in hybrid beds clays are
dispersed and mixed with sand grains through much of the upper
part of the bed (Figs. 2 and 3). Many of the muddy divisions show
significant vertical fractionation of components such as mud clasts,
outsized sand grains and carbonaceous matter. The latter may or
may not be capped by a thin (generally a few cm but sometimes
thicker) fine grained, laminated sand–mud couplet. The ‘ideal’
hybrid bed based on a compilation of bed motifs from a wide range
of systems (Figs. 3 and 4) thus displays up to five internal divisions,
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918 1905

Fig. 3. Schematic log showing ‘ideal’ organisation of a typical five-part (H1–H5) hybrid event bed. See text for discussion. Note that not all divisions may be present or have a consistent
character; H3 can sit directly on H1, and H1 and/or H4/5 may be missing. H3 may be clast-prone, extensively sand-injected or comprised of muddy sand without clasts. The proportion
of divisions also varies from bed to bed; some are dominated by expanded sandy H1 division, whereas others are dominated by H3. For key to log, refer to Fig. 2.

from base to top (H1) a lower coarser grained, clay-poor or at least
less clay-rich sandstone, (H2) a typically banded mixed or transi-
tional interval, (H3) a sandy mudstone or muddy sandstone with or
without mud clasts and sand injections, (H4) a structured finer
grained sandstone, often with dark laminae containing mud
chip (i.e. mm-scale aggregates) and plant matter segregations, and
(H5) a generally thin graded silt to clay cap that gradationally
overlies H4, the lower part of which can contain prominent sandy
pseudonodules.
Hybrid event beds are generally dcm to m thick, extending
down to a few cm and up to >10 m thick whilst still retaining much
of the structure of the ideal bed (Fig. 2). Generally, the lower
sandstone is structureless or shows dewatering structures,
commonly dishes, or vertical dewatering sheets (Fig. 5A). Bed bases
are generally sharp and planar, with loading or in some cases
erosional sole structures. The sand can be normally graded or basal
inverse-graded to ungraded. Typically, parallel and ripple lamina-
tion are absent from the top of the lower clean sandstone, although

Fig. 4. Example of a typical five-part, sand-dominated hybrid event bed from the outer Palaeocene Forties fan system in the North Sea, well 23/22a-3, 2735 m driller’s depth (d.d.)
relative to Kelly’s Bushing (RKB). The lower main part of the bed is dominated by a structureless sandstone (H1) with a crude consolidation lamination. H2 shows a crude banding
defined by slightly paler (cleaner) band tops with floating mud clasts and deformed dewatering structures suggesting shearing by the overriding flow. H3 in this case contains only
vestiges of mud clasts (m) and is a uniform dark muddy sandstone with a carbonaceous flake (c) towards the top. The event bed is capped by a parallel to ripple laminated H4 very
fine-grained sandstone in which clay aggregates are effectively segregated (creating darker laminae and foresets). Note the pseudo paired drapes. These are not tidally influenced
deposits however (see Dreyer et al., 2004). For key to log, refer to Fig. 2.
1906 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Sylvester and Lowe (2004) and Talling et al. (2004, 2007) identify
dune scale cross-lamination and ripples before the transition to the
upper argillaceous division in some systems. However, care must
be taken in distinguishing banding (particularly micro-banding)
associated with transitional flow behaviour from upper flow
regime parallel lamination. Banding characteristically involves
sharp-topped paler laminae/bands loaded into underlying darker,
soft-sediment-sheared bands (Lowe and Guy, 2000).
Superimposed on the basic division of the bed into sandier
lower and argillaceous upper parts are a host of variations relating
to: (a) the relative proportions and presence of divisions H1–H5; (b)
the types and importance of mud clasts in H3; (c) the nature of the
internal transition from cleaner H1 sand to more argillaceous H3
sand; (d) the development of banded fabrics and H2 divisions
(Fig. 6); (e) the texture of the argillaceous matrix in H3 (f) the
extent of syn-depositional sand injection sourced from H1 and
intruding H2 and H3; and (g) the expression of the event bed top
(H4 and H5).
The proportion of clean sand (H1) versus argillaceous facies (H2,
H3) varies widely from beds dominated by clean, structureless sand

Fig. 5. Core and outcrop examples illustrating a range of hybrid event bed styles and typical associated features. (A) Split core showing upper part of an Upper Jurassic event bed
from distal Magnus Sandstone Member, UK northern North Sea, well 211/13a-10, core depth 11,2820 d.d. RKB. The junction between H1 (dewatered sandstone forming lower 5 cm;
only top shown here) and H3, the upper central darker mud clast-rich unit is modified by a large ‘domal’ sand injection (i) that interfingers laterally with H3 sand-speckled muddy
sand. Note the carbonaceous clast (c), deformed sand-laminated mudrock clast (m) within H3 and pale vertical dewatering streaks (d) in the top of H1. At the top, there is a sharp
transition back into the H4 laminated very fine-grained sandstone (labelled Sl) that characteristically shows strong colour variation due to darker laminae rich in segregated mud
aggregates/chips. (B) Hybrid bed from the Pollica Formation at Santa Maria Castellabate in the Cilento Basin, southern Apennines, Italy. The lower part of bed is clean dewatered
sandstone, overlain by slightly darker mud clast-rich argillaceous sandstone and capped (either side of compass clinometer) by a thin ripple laminated sandstone. (C) Hybrid bed
from the Oligocene ‘Macingo costiero’ turbidite system, coastal Tuscany. Note the lower pale sandstone (H1) and chaotic upper argillaceous sandstone with abundant mud clasts and
carbonaceous matter. Isolated mud clasts occur surrounded by clean sandstone beneath the H1/H3 transition. Pen for scale. (D) Stacked thin hybrid beds from the central Ross
Formation at Kilbaha Bay, western Ireland. Note the paler coloured basal cleaner sand and darker muddy sand with sparse mud clasts towards top. A thin H4 sand occurs on top of
the event bed with the coin (for scale) on it. This has partly collapsed into the muddy sandstone beneath.
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918 1907

with very thin argillaceous caps (Fig. 2G), in some cases comprising
just scattered flakey mud or carbonaceous clasts, to beds with
either a very thin (cm-thick) basal sandy division or with mud-
prone sandstones at the bed base (Fig. 2J). Where event bed
populations have been examined (e.g. outer Forties fan system,
North Sea; Fig. 7), a full range of bed proportions is seen, and beds
containing a high proportion of argillaceous facies have a similar
thickness distribution to beds dominated by clean sandstone
(although the latter class contains a number of thicker sand beds,
interpreted to relate to cryptic amalgamation).
Mud clasts are a key component in the argillaceous H3 parts of
many event beds, but are rare or absent in others. In the North Sea
Jurassic fans (Miller, Magnus; Fig. 5A), argillaceous divisions
contain abundant mud (and sand) clasts. Generally, the mud clasts
are elongate and define a bedding parallel fabric; where small, they
may show more chaotic arrangements. In some cases, the mud
clasts do not resemble the local background mud, suggesting they
cannot represent local erosion products. For example, clasts in
Jurassic H3 divisions in the Kingfisher Field include thin-bedded
mud and sandstone lithologies unlike the local ‘background’
deposits. In the Forties H3 divisions, clasts of green siltstone
resembling the underlying Lista Formation occur. Mud clast-
charged beds are less common and many argillaceous sand divi-
sions contain only scattered mud clasts with cuspate, apparently
corroded boundaries, along with many fine mud flecks suggesting
extensive comminution (Fig. 4). The first occurrence of mud clasts
vertically within the bed is often as clusters of clasts surrounded
by clean sand immediately beneath the transition to muddier
sandstone (Figs. 5C and 6), even in cases where mud clasts are rare/
absent in the upper division. Generally these mud clasts are poorly
aligned and unstratified and they may be subrounded. Some
argillaceous caps contain only dispersed clay and no mud clasts or
evidence that they were once present (e.g. Talling et al., 2007).
Where mud clasts are small (<0.5 cm), they can be segregated into
laminae, producing a distinctive stratification of cleaner sandstone
and mud fleck-charged sandstone, commonly towards the top of
the argillaceous unit and transitional with the overlying laminated
cleaner sandstone. Where coarser grained extrabasinal gravel was
available up-dip, as in the case of the North Sea Jurassic systems,
this does not appear in the H3 divisions.
The transition from clean (H1) to argillaceous (H3) sandstone can
take a variety of forms. Commonly in the case of the North Sea Jurassic
examples, the transition is sharp and inclined and often cross-cut by
sand injections sourced from H1 (Fig. 5A). In the Palaeocene Forties
Fan, either gradational or ‘stepped’ contacts are seen, and more of the
contacts are relatively flat (Figs. 4 and 6). Cross-cutting sand injections
are rarer. Gradational contacts can be associated with the develop-
ment of meso- or micro-banding (terminology of Lowe and Guy, 2000;
termed H2 here), with banding straddling the contact between
cleaner and more clay-rich sandstone. In other cases banding is
restricted to the upper part of the basal H1 clean sandstone division
(Fig. 7). ‘Stepped’ contacts comprise several sharp contacts, spaced cm
to dcm apart, across which the lithology becomes increasingly darker
and more mud-prone. Some of the step surfaces are associated with
sheared dewatering sheets and patches (Fig. 4).
Although banding was first described in anomalously thick
(>10 m) event beds from the Britannia Sandstone Formation (Lowe
and Guy, 2000), it is an integral if more subtle part of hybrid beds in
other systems, where typically it is transitional with clean sand-
stone beneath and argillaceous sandstone above (Fig. 6). It appears
to be best developed where mud clasts are rarer in bed caps and
where clasts are extensively comminuted, and also where the lower
sandstone division is thin and/or relatively fine grained with some
dispersed clay. It is more common in the Forties event beds (Fig. 7)
than in the Jurassic examples. Similarly to Britannia banding (Lowe
and Guy, 2000), lighter layers can have characteristic loaded bases

Fig. 6. Detail of a pair of stacked hybrid event beds from the Forties Sandstone, Everest Field, central North Sea, core depth 85690 –85640 d.d. RKB. Lower bed contains all five
divisions (H1–H5), whereas upper bed lacks evidence for a return to a turbulent tail (H4 and H5 missing). Both beds show well developed banded H2 divisions between H1 (clean
sandstone) and H3 muddy sandstone. Banding ranges from crude segregation of cm-scale lighter and darker intervals (cleaner and more clay-prone respectively) to more typical
sharp-topped lighter divisions with more diffuse loaded bases with underlying darker divisions (see upper part of D). Note how banding spans transition from paler, cleaner sand to
darker muddy sand. For key to log, refer to Fig. 2.
1908 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Fig. 7. Compilation of event bed statistics for complete event beds from the Everest and Pierce fields on the medial lateral and distal lateral flank of the Palaeocene Forties Fan, North
Sea. (A) Pi charts illustrating the significance of hybrid beds. Bed types 1, 6 and 7 correspond to what would be classified as conventional high-density turbidite, stand-alone debrite,
and low-density turbidite, respectively. The remaining bed types are split into a range of types of hybrid bed on the basis of clean sand proportion (see Davis et al., 2009). Type 3 beds
are those that contain banded H2 divisions. Note the dominance of hybrid style beds in this system. Conventional turbidites comprises only a minor part of the fan fringe sampled in
these two locations, particularly when the relative thicknesses are considered. (B) Cross-plot showing the constituent facies make-up (as a proportion of clay-prone facies primarily
comprising H2 and H3 divisions of the beds) and the range of event bed thicknesses. Note that there is a continuum from sand-rich to clay-rich bed make-up, and that clay-rich Type 3
and Type 4 beds have broadly similar thicknesses to sand-dominated beds (some very thick sand-dominated ‘beds’ may reflect cryptic amalgamation).

and sharp tops; darker layers have a more chaotic appearance.
Unlike in Britannia, lighter bands tend not to have obvious internal
lamination, and strata-bound dewatering sheets are uncommon.
Significant variation in the range of grain sizes within the argil-
laceous H3 component of beds is seen. In some cases the H3 division
comprises dominantly fine or very fine-grained clay-rich sand,
whereas elsewhere it can contain scattered relatively coarse sand
grains (Fig. 5A), even coarser than in the underlying clean sand. The
texture can be either homogenous or strongly heterogeneous, in the
latter case with clots or patches of paler sand balled or sheared
through the darker matrix.
Sand injections in the form of dykes, pipes and sills of pale sand
can cross both matrix and clasts of the argillaceous division, but are
not observed to cut the event bed top (Fig. 5A). Injection is
particularly common in event beds in syn-rift fans such as the
Jurassic examples from the North Sea, but appears to be present is
a smaller proportion of beds from the larger, post rift fans, such as
the larger Forties system.
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
Many hybrid event beds preserve thin parallel and/or ripple
laminated caps (Figs. 4 and 5B). Where mud chips are abundant,
these tend to be parallel stratified to laminated rather than rippled.
However, event beds do occur with no H4 sand cap; in some cases
the argillaceous unit contains foundered and contorted remnants of
well-laminated fine-grained sands within H3 (Fig. 5D). Rounded
sandy pseudonodules (mm to cm across) are particularly common
at the transition from laminated sand into the capping H5
mudstone (Haughton et al., 2003).
3.2. Interpretation
A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the
repeated association between a lower turbidite sandstone and
overlying linked debrite in the same bed (e.g. Haughton et al., 2003;
Talling et al., 2004). These include (1) continued runout of a debris
flow following partial transformation to a forerunner turbidity
current, (2) down-dip transformation from non-cohesive to more
cohesive flow driven by incorporation of clay via erosion and (3)
simultaneous or retrogressive failure of heterogeneous (sandy and
muddy) slopes producing a co-genetic but otherwise unrelated
sandy turbidity current and a muddy debris flow. The latter
mechanism is deemed less likely given the occurrence of hybrid
beds in a wide variety of settings, and the systematic stacking of
mud clast-rich debrite on top of underlying sand and never the
other way round.
Care must be taken to rule out bed amalgamation processes
(Johansson and Stow, 1995), substrate deformation, injection ‘rip-
down’ (Kawakami and Kawamura, 2002) or post-depositional
disturbance (Higgs et al., 1998) as alternative explanations for the
juxtaposition of chaotic, mud clast-rich intervals and structureless
sandstone beds. Evidence for mud clasts that are lithologically
distinct from interbedded local mudstones argues against such
processes, and the presence of undisturbed capping H4/5 divisions
points towards flow partitioning, as they imply temporally linked
emplacement of the underlying divisions whose fixed sequence of
occurrence is most plausibly explained as the vertical expression in
the deposit of an evolved or inherited longitudinal flow structure
(see below). The thin H4/5 caps appear never to be cross-cut by
sand injections, implying the chaotic and often sand-injected
division beneath are not a product of post-depositional sand
injection. The injections that accompanied H3 emplacement
predated H4 deposition. Importantly, the hybrid bed structure is
seen in event beds that are isolated in hemipelagic sediment and in
these cases substrate deformation beneath a succeeding overriding
flow can be ruled out.
Continued runout of a debris flow that has partially transformed
to a forerunner turbidity current (mechanism 1 above) may explain
deposition of hybrid event beds following large-volume slope
failures, and has been implicated in the emplacement of extensive
basin plain event beds in the Marnosa-Arenacea system, Italy (Amy
and Talling, 2006), and possibly on the recent Agadir basin floor
(Talling et al., 2007). Partitioning of the flow in this way can account
for the local occurrence of parallel and ripple laminated sandstone
beneath the H1/H3 contact, and a relatively sharp (over a few cm)
transition between the turbidite and debrite components of the
bed. A forerunning turbidity current can move independently of the
debris flow behind it, and may decelerate and become sufficiently
dilute to develop tractional structures before the arrival of the
debris flow, particularly where the runout path is long.
Some features of hybrid event beds are less easily explained by
the disintegration and distal propagation of the initial slope failure
as a trailing debris flow. H3 divisions thicken distally at the
expensive of H1 and are absent or very thin over significant
distances (10s–100s km) up-dip. Core (Haughton et al., 2003) and
1909
outcrop correlations (Talling et al., 2004; Amy and Talling, 2006)
show that the absence of distinctive H3 divisions up-dip is not
simply a function of erosional removal. Where full bed profiles are
preserved, up-dip sandstones are capped by either very thin mud
clast trains and or parallel and rippled laminated sandstone. For
a given succession, event beds dominated by H3 divisions have
similar thicknesses to those with prominent H1 divisions. Were the
debrites to come from source failures, they would therefore have to
surmount and bypass up-dip erosional relief left by the turbidity
current, or irregular relief where slopes are underlain by mobile salt
or shale. As noted above, the transition between H1 and H3 can be
gradational and include an intervening H2 division, signifying
a gradual rearward change in rheology along the length of the flow,
rather than discrete debris flow and turbidity current components
(Barker et al., 2008). In most cases, no tractional structures occur
beneath the H3 division, implying the change to cohesive deposi-
tion occurred before the concentration and velocity of the fore-
running turbidity current had dropped significantly, even at the
distal end of relatively large systems (e.g. the 300 km long North
Sea Forties Fan), and in surprisingly thin event beds (<5 cm in some
cases; Fig. 5D). Hybrid event beds also occur in close association
with turbidite channels and or bypass surfaces in some systems
(e.g. Carboniferous mid- to upper Ross Sandstone Fm, Ireland,
Permian Brushy Canyon Fm, west Texas), suggesting a link to local
erosion rather than to initial failure. Where flows are generated by
failure of gravelly syn-tectonic slopes, the linked debrites might be
expected to carry extraformational gravel components, but this is
not the case for Upper Jurassic footwall-sourced fans where coarser
grained gravels (Devonian sandstone cobbles and boulders) were
available up-dip but do not occur in the down-dip H3 debrites.
The change in flow behaviour is often presaged by the arrival of
scattered mud clasts that were deposited with clean sand in the
upper part of H1 divisions, suggesting erosional bulking of the flow
with mud clasts and/or clay may be important in driving changes in
flow cohesion and in dampening turbulence. Bulking via erosion is
known to be an important mechanism in several recent well-
characterised slope failures (e.g. 1929 Grand Banks, Piper and Asku,
1987; 1979 Nice event, Mulder et al., 1997); the volumes of sedi-
ment incorporated in the flow during bulking can be volumetrically
similar to or even exceed that of the initial failure. It is this addi-
tional bulked component, particularly where muddy, that may be
important in controlling the subsequent evolution and longitudinal
structure of many gravity currents (mechanism 2 above; see
Ricci Lucchi and Valmori, 1980; Haughton et al., 2003; Amy and
Talling, 2006). Observations of strongly erosional turbidites in
outcrop (Fig. 8) show that mud clasts can be efficiently segregated
hydrodynamically on the bed and such examples may actually
capture the first stage in partitioning of the flow into sections with
different turbulence structure.
The above observations indicate that the debrites occurring as
H3 divisions can arise by flow transformations forced by bulking of
originally mainly turbulent and hydraulically fractionated flows as
opposed to runout of partly transformed debris flows from the
source failures. The upward change within event beds from less
clay to more clay-prone is most simply attributed to longitudinal
heterogeneity in the structure of the passing flow. The flow front
was either turbulent (accounting for the grading) or with sup-
pressed turbulence but lacking cohesive effects (ungraded/
inversely graded H1 examples), but evidently the cohesion and
turbulence suppression became more important upwards, such
that the depositional regime passed through an intermediate or
transitional flow state (H2) and then became laminar or very
weakly turbulent (H3). The flows are inferred to have been
fundamentally turbulent originally as it is necessary to fractionate
components effectively along their length to explain the difference
1910 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
Fig. 8. Examples of proximal mud clast entrainment and segregation from a Neogene
base-of-slope fan system in the Tabernas Basin, SE Spain. Such outcrops capture how
turbulent gravity currents can acquire and segregate significant volumes of entrained
mud blocks as a possible first step in linked debrite generation. (A) Scour-fill with
erosional base (b) overlain by fining up imbricated pebble conglomerate (p) and
sandstone (s) with numerous large mud rip-up clasts (m) spanning contact between
conglomerate and sandstone. Rambla Sierra 37 020 11.6000 N 2 220 01.0300 W (B) Close up
of graded pebble conglomerate and very coarse sandstone with local concentration of
mud rip-up clasts. Rambla Sierra 37 020 13.5000 N 2 210 26.3100 W. Note coin centre left for
scale. In both examples the mud clast concentrations have been frozen proximally.
Linked debris flow formation may have been stifled by a high rates of deposition and/
or the coarse texture of the underlying sediment that would have inhibited basal
lubrication.
in behaviour captured in the bed. A ‘‘complete’’ hybrid event bed is
capped by deposition from a trailing waning low concentration and
turbulent cloud (H4 and H5), implying a return to non-cohesive
behaviour before settling of a mud plume. Long distance correla-
tions of hybrid event beds (Amy and Talling, 2006) show little
evidence of compensation suggesting they can leave an essentially
flat basin floor with no evidence for mounding. This indicates little
strength for the H3 linked debris flow deposits, despite the pres-
ence of large mud clasts.
The high mud clast content, poor sorting and lack of grading of
the H3 divisions confirm an upward change to cohesive behaviour.
It is likely that the loss of turbulence is linked to increasing near-
bed clay concentrations. The ability of even small quantities of clay
to suppress turbulence and modify the settling regime has been
shown experimentally by Baas and Best (2002) and Amy et al.
(2006) respectively, and turbidity currents are known to fractionate
clays from coarser grains effectively along their length, producing
for example the familiar Te division of the Bouma turbidite.
However, in the latter case the presence of clays has not forced the
sorts of transformations evident in hybrid event beds, so a signifi-
cant clay content in itself cannot be the key factor promoting the
change in flow behaviour. Although many hybrid beds contain
abundant carbonaceous matter, carbonaceous-rich but clay-poor
sandstones do not tend to indicate the same types of flow trans-
formation (Saller et al., 2006). Instead, the carbonaceous matter
becomes segregated into spaced laminae. Examples of hybrid event
beds without carbonaceous fragments also occur. Consequently,
although the presence of the carbonaceous matter suggests an
ultimate shallow water source, and where concentrated in partic-
ular layers, points to fractionation processes within the flow,
carbonaceous matter is probably not the primary cause of the
interpreted flow transformations.
The occurrence of mud clasts surrounded by clean sandstone in
the upper part of many H1 divisions may be significant. These clasts
are interpreted to have been deposited on an aggrading sand bed
(see Kneller and Branney, 1995) prior to the onset of flow trans-
formations and record the first arrival at the depositional location
of part of the flow charged with mud clasts, initially at low
concentrations (insufficient to influence the flow behaviour). The
isolated mud clasts foreran part of the flow where mud clasts were
more abundant and where the flow behaviour was modified. The
entrainment, transport and partial disaggregation of mud clasts
within near-bed layers may therefore be key to turbulence
suppression and formation of transitional and debrite deposits
linked to underlying sandstones (see Ricci Lucchi and Valmori,
1980; Lowe and Guy, 2000; Haughton et al., 2003; Amy and Talling,
2006; Amy et al., 2006). Postma et al. (1988) suggested that to
preserve mud clasts in the otherwise abrasive environment
provided by the base of a turbidity current required coupling
between erosion and turbulence dampening. Clays dispersed at low
concentrations high in the flow are unable to influence deposition
at the bed and settle out after passage of the flow (as H5 and in Te
divisions of Bouma-type beds). A link between clast disintegration
and turbulence suppression implies that hybrid event beds are
likely to occur where flows are able to entrain, segregate and
abrade significant quantities of mud clasts. As such, the formation
of many hybrid type beds is probably intimately tied to mud
erosion and to turbulent flows that are out-of-grade up-dip, an
issue we return to in a later section. The physical properties of the
entrained mud clasts must also partly determine the efficacy of clay
release to the current.
The variable vertical structure of hybrid event beds outlined
above may relate to a number of factors including: (1) the gener-
ation mechanism viz a viz source slumping versus erosional
bulking; (2) the length scale over which the flows are able to evolve
and segregate components, a function of where along the transport
path the flow became partitioned and the overall scale of the
system; (3) the extent to which different flow components mutu-
ally interact and mix with just-deposited sediment and (4) the rate
at which the flows decelerate, reflecting position (lateral versus
distal) and gradient changes.
In smaller sand-rich systems (e.g. w10 km radius North Sea syn-
rift Jurassic fans), H2 divisions are rare, H3 divisions are clast rich,
and contacts between debrite and underlying H1 sandstones are
sharp but irregular. In larger systems (e.g. the >300 km long Forties
fan, North Sea), transitional H2 divisions are better developed, mud
clasts in H3 divisions are less obvious (although they are often
present as heavily ‘‘corroded’’ remnants), and internal contacts are
generally planar rather than foundered. The reason for such
differences could reflect the degree of internal longitudinal
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918 1911

Fig. 9. Explanation for the variable character of hybrid event beds based on differences in the scale of system. Inferred near-bed turbulence intensity with time illustrated
schematically by cross-plots. In small, sand-rich fan systems (e.g. North Sea Jurassic, offshore mid-Norway Cretaceous) (A), lateral partitioning of the flow into non-cohesive and
cohesive sections occurs over small length scales and hence the interval between linked debrite arrival and prior sand deposition is short, producing extensive sand injection and
inhibiting mud clast attrition. (B) In larger fan systems (e.g. 300 km long Forties fan system) flows partition and stretch over longer length scales, allowing a more transitional
change from non-cohesive to cohesive, with more extensive clast attrition and more modest autoinjection of H3 by sand. Note a similar down fan thickening of H3 at the expensive
of H1 is envisaged.

segregation within the depositing flows which will be sensitive to
flow length (Fig. 9). The short flows active on small fans may not
have had sufficient time or space to develop efficient longitudinal
segregation of components, and entrained mud clasts would
have undergone less mechanical breakage due to short transport
distances. Partitioned debris flows would have developed as
a consequence of up-dip erosion and overridden just deposited,
actively dewatering sand. They would thus have been prone to load
into, and to be autoinjected by, poorly consolidated sand from
beneath, producing the sharp foundered contacts, and H3 divisions
with common multiphase sand injections. At longer length scales,
the flow head would have stretched away from the flow tail and
more efficient turbulent segregation of components could have
taken place. In addition, greater mud clast attrition would have
occurred over the longer transport distances. Consequently, the
turbulent flow head would have passed rearward into a zone of
clay-induced turbulence suppression via an intervening part of the
flow showing transitional behaviour to account for banded H2
deposits between H1 turbidite and H3 debrite. As the bed aggraded
more slowly from a longer partitioned flow, there would have been
less scope for foundering and upward injection of H1 sand (the
H1 sand was better consolidated and progressively – rather than
suddenly statically – loaded). However, during emplacement the
linked debrite may have become coupled downwards with the
mechanically weak beds beneath and driven local shearing and
modification of the transition zone (Fig. 4).
A simple association between system scale and bed expression
is complicated by the potential for down-dip incision. When
turbulent flows traverse irregular slopes, nick-point migration or
entrenchment through growing structures may produce erosion at
some point along the flow path, freighting a turbidity current with
mud clasts. If the flow becomes overcharged and decelerates
rapidly, linked debris flows may form and evolve over relatively
short distances, despite the large scale of the overall system. As the
lateral margins will be thinner and carry less turbulent energy than
the core of a flow, particularly where they passively impinge on
a confining slope, these may be more susceptible to turbulence
dampening and flow transformation compared to the flow axis
(Barker et al., 2008). Bed style in flow margins may differ from that
along the flow axis – for example, banded sandstones and evidence
for transitional flow may be more common in lateral as opposed
to distal margins (Barker et al., 2008; Davis et al., 2009).
4. Distribution of hybrid event beds at system scale
Since the recognition of linked debrites and hybrid event beds, it
has become apparent that they occur widely across a range of
systems, but vary in the nature and extent of their expression. They
are common in some systems, but rare or absent in others. Here we
focus on their distribution at system scale, drawing attention to
different fan scale arrangements that may reveal something of the
wider fan character and supply mechanism. In this way, the limited
information from facies distribution in a core or outcrop section
may be indicative of the wider fan type and system behaviour.
Where the hybrid flows are triggered by bulking, the presence and
style of linked debrites may have implications for the identification
of equilibrium versus non-equilibrium feeder and fan slopes, and
their evolution.
Abundant hybrid beds are found in cores from the lateral and
distal fringes of small Jurassic syn-rift, deep-water fans in the UK
North Sea (Fig. 10). What is significant about their occurrence here
is that they dominate the entire vertical record of the fans through
a number of cycles of initiation, growth, aggradation and decay,
separated by regional condensed sections. Very few ‘conventional’
turbidite beds occur: nearly every sandstone bed >10 cm thick has
an associated debrite cap. Important constraints on the origin of the
1912 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Fig. 10. Detailed logged section of core from well 16/8a-4 from the outer part of the Upper Jurassic Miller–Kingfisher fan system in the south Viking Graben, North Sea. See Garland
et al. (1999) for context. The log illustrates the dominance of hybrid event beds with prominent H3 linked debrites throughout the stacked fan deposits (only a small section of
which is shown here). Conventional turbidite facies are rare and restricted to thin stacked low-density turbidites in background muds during periods of fan activity (e.g. the interval
at ca. 13,2980 d.d. RKB). For key to log, see Fig. 2.

‘linked debrite’ component of the couplets come from the rafted
clasts they transport. In the Jurassic examples, these include non-
local slope lithologies so it is difficult to appeal to local seabed
erosion on the basin floor, or post-depositional foundering of clasts
due to sand injection. In addition, the clasts are locally armoured
with sand grains coarser than those present in the immediately
underlying sandstone bed, and such grains are also present in the
argillaceous matrix. Some of the mud clasts are either too large
(>30 cm) to have been suspended in a turbulent current and/or too
fragile and angular to have been turbulent current bedload, and so
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918 1913

must have travelled within debris flows for some distance. The
common association with abundant carbonaceous matter, some-
times fractionated from the mud clasts, is also significant, as it
indicates probable linkage to the contemporaneous shelf (although
‘shelf floods’ can deliver carbonaceous matter to the upper slope;
Schwehr et al., 2007). Large footwall-derived Devonian sandstone
clasts in the Brae–Miller–Kingfisher system do not occur in the
down-dip H3 debrites but characterise the fill to the proximal Brae
channels.
A second facies pattern is seen in fans deposited in tectonically
quiescent basins where the hybrid event beds are encountered
mainly in the basal part of the succession, with an upward transi-
tion to conventional turbidite facies. For example, the Carbonif-
erous Ross Sandstone in the Clare Basin, western Ireland, comprises
up to 380 m of stacked deep-water sandstones (Elliot, 2000;
Martinsen et al., 2000; Fig. 11). For the most part, this sandy
succession was deposited by turbulent currents carrying
a restricted, primarily fine-grained, sand load, and poorly graded,
unstructured sandstones are capped by relatively thin, ripple
laminated divisions implying the flows had modest, low-concen-
tration tails. However, the basal Ross Formation, seen north of
Ballybunion, western Ireland (Fig. 11B and C) comprises a sandying-

Fig. 11. (A) Reconstruction of ‘acme’ Ross Sandstone fan system, western Ireland, and location of the Ballybunion section that preserves the system onset. (B) View from the sea of
the lower Ross Sandstone Formation illustrating the isolated sheet architecture at this level. (C) Summary logged section through the basal part of the Ross Sandstone north of
Ballybunion showing that hybrid flow deposits are common in the basal part of the fan stratigraphy, with conventional turbidites more important away from the base.
1914 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
upward, non-amalgamated sheet succession characterised by
hybrid event beds and sandstone beds showing ‘banding’ (sensu
Lowe and Guy, 2000). These are replaced higher in the succession
by conventional sheet turbidites with ripple laminated bed tops.
Repeated condensed sections demonstrate that the fan system was
episodically shutdown, but there was no recurrence of the debrite
caps to beds on re-initiation of the fans in these instances. Local
hybrid beds occur in the upper Ross Formation (Fig. 5D), mainly
associated with channelisation and erosion surfaces.
In a third style of turbidite succession, hybrid event beds occur
locally interleaved with conventional high or low-concentration
turbidite beds during either fan aggradation or in the decay phase.
Cores in the lateral and distal reaches of the Cenozoic Forties fan
system in the North Sea show common hybrid beds in the lower fan
growth phase, but they also occur interleaved with intervals of
stacked sandy turbidites in the upper part of the Forties Formation
(Davis et al., 2009). Hybrid beds interleaved with conventional
basin floor turbidites are also seen in the Marnosa Arenacea
Formation of the Appennine Basin, Italy (Talling et al., 2004; Amy
et al., 2006) and the Agadir Basin (Talling et al., 2004, 2007).
Lastly, hybrid event beds can be important components of the
fill to slope channel complexes. Palaeocene (‘T34’) channels in the
Schiehallion Field on the Atlantic margin west of the Shetland
Islands have been cored in well 204/25a-2. Towards the base of the
channel complex, abundant mud clasts occur mainly at sandy bed
bases, whereas higher in the fill, mud clasts and carbonaceous
clasts are concentrated in bed tops in the form of bioturbation-
modified H3 divisions of hybrid beds.
4.1. Interpretation
The character of the North Sea Jurassic hybrid beds indicates an
up-dip source for the H3 debrites – they cannot have been triggered
from distal or lateral slopes on account of their texture (oversized
and/or exotic clasts, common carbonaceous flakes, coarse sand
grains). The dominance of hybrid beds through the cycles of
growth, aggradation and decay of the fans implies that these
systems were predisposed to producing beds of this type, either
because remnants of the source failures were easily transferred
downslope to the basin floor, or the flows generated in shallow
water were prone to erosional bulking. The absence of footwall
clasts in the Miller–Kingfisher linked debrites suggests the latter
was more likely. The implication is the delivery system slopes were
fundamentally out-of-grade through-out. Because these fans were
all formed in the hanging wall of major extensional faults, the
slopes down which flows accessed the basin floor would have
remained steep through on-going fault displacements. Thin
condensed horizons could also represent significant periods of time
during which the turbidite pathways were steepened by faulting.
Similar fan systems dominated by disequilibrium slopes and an
abundance of hybrid flows include the Angel Formation of the NW
Australian shelf (Deller et al., 2006) and the syn-rift Cretaceous of
offshore mid-Norway (Fugelli and Olsen, 2007).
Common hybrid event beds during the early phase of fan initi-
ation in the basal Ross Sandstone Formation suggests that the first
flows to enter the basin either traversed ‘out-of-grade’ slopes and
incorporated large volumes of mud from the Clare Shale formation
or were associated with initial failures that shed trailing linked
debrites downslope. Thereafter, flows deposited conventional
turbidites, suggesting maintenance of equilibrium feeder and fan
slopes through multiple cycles of fan initiation, growth, aggrada-
tion and decay. The morphology of the basin in which the Ross
Sandstone was deposited was inherited from the earlier carbonate
platform/basin and draped by the Clare Shale (up to 200 m thick).
Early disequilibrium may thus have been associated with the
transfer from carbonate to clastic shelf-slope gradients; thereafter
the slopes were broadly in equilibrium, and aggradation of the
basin floor discouraged renewed up-dip incision. Local occurrences
of hybrid event beds in the upper parts of the formation may reflect
local disequilibrium due to lateral slope failures and/or periods of
fan channel incision.
The distribution of hybrid event beds in the Forties fan system
indicates they were common during the initial establishment of
the fan. The lower Forties Formation is also characterised by
mass transport complexes, and hence fan growth was initially
across an uneven surface that would have promoted local inci-
sion and deposition. Halokinesis may also have contributed to
departures from equilibrium slopes by deforming the basin floor.
The upper Forties Formation contains bundles of hybrid beds
towards the lateral and distal margins of the fan suggesting
episodes when flows became choked with mud clasts, alternating
with times when flows remained largely turbulent. This may
correspond to the creation of fan valleys on the mid fan where
many of the producing reservoirs are in thick sandy turbidites
filling incisional fan valleys. The hybrid beds down-dip may
correspond to valley-incising flows, and the sandy conventional
turbidites to valley-transmitting and valley-filling flows. In this
case, linked debrite deposition could be anticipated to have
switched on synchronously across the lower reaches of the fan
during episodes of fan-valley incision.
The concentration of mud clasts and clays in hybrid beds in the
upper parts of the Schiehallion channel fill (Fig. 12) is interpreted to
record the migration of the locus of erosion upslope during channel
filling. The mud clast-charged bed-bases low in the channel
complex suggest local erosion and lag formation, whereas the
overlying hybrid beds require erosion farther up-dip to allow the
flows to subsequently partition into sandy forward part and trailing
turbulence dampened debrite. This style of fill may be character-
istic of backstepping of the system during filling and/or upslope
knickpoint migration.
4.2. Significance
If hybrid bed development reflects periods when disequilib-
rium, over-steep, ‘out-of-grade’ slopes were present up-dip, their
occurrence in fan deposits provides important clues to the wider
system behaviour and style. Disequilibrium slopes may occur for
a variety of reasons (Fig. 13A), including (1) flow magnitude
increases; (2) tectonic deformation and modification of canyon or
fan gradients; (3) gravity-driven surface deformation such as mass
transport emplacement and rise of compressional toe-of-slope
thrust ridges; (4) shale or salt diapirism; (5) a range of autocyclic
effects that operate on morphologically complex slopes and fan
surfaces such as minibasin spilling and upslope knickpoint retreat,
and (6) occurrence of steep inherited slope profiles. The distribu-
tion of hybrid event beds within the fan deposits can identify
whether the fan system was continuously out of grade, as for
instance where tectonics prevents equilibrium slopes developing
at all, or intermittently ‘out of grade’, where fan establishment
requires a discrete period of slope adjustment, or intermittent
tectonic, surface deformation, or supply factors induce periods of
disequilibrium (Fig. 13B). The characteristics of the debrite units
themselves may give important additional clues as to where and
why the flows were triggered; the clasts they carry potentially
reveal something of the environment/degree of incision up-dip,
and the sand grains incorporated in the debrites reflect where
along the transport path the uncoupling into turbidity current and
linked debris flow arose. Where the debris flow component
contains sand grains that are significantly coarser than the sand
beneath it, this suggests debrite partitioning further up the system,
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918 1915

Fig. 12. Summary logged section through a fining-upward stack of Palaeocene (T34 age) sediment gravity flow deposits from a Schiehallion slope channel complex on the Atlantic
margin west of Shetland. For context, see Leach et al. (1999). Note the dominance of linked debrites in the upper part of the sandbody. Mud clasts in the lower part of the sandbody
are restricted to bed bases and record local erosion. Clasts in the linked debrites above must have come from erosion higher upslope and imply erosion migrated upslope as the
channel filled (backstepping and knickpoint migration?).
1916 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918

Fig. 13. Summary of conditions leading to a dominance of hybrid style over conventional turbidite facies. Systems prone to mud clast erosion are deemed likely to show evidence for
flow partitioning and for the development of cohesive behaviour in the lateral and rearward part of the sediment gravity currents. Such a situation (A) is likely to arise where (1) slopes
are maintained out-of equilibrium by faulting or tectonic tilting (e.g. Upper Jurassic turbidites of the North Sea), (2) the sea floor is particularly irregular due to gravity sliding or
halokinesis (e.g. Palaeocene Forties fan, North Sea), (3) clastic systems drape prior carbonate-constructed basin margins (e.g. Ross Sandstone, western Ireland) and (4) where very
large-volume flows penetrate deep into muddy distal basins (Lower Cretaceous Britannia system, North Sea). (B) Schematic logs illustrating four characteristic distributions of hybrid
event beds at system scale. No vertical scale implied. Hybrid beds may either dominate the lateral and distal margins of the complete fan succession, only characterise fan start-up
sections, occur sporadically throughout the succession along with conventional turbidites, or characterise the upper part of the sand-prone section. See text for discussion.

and there is then an issue as to whether the flows arise from
disintegration of initial slumps or via proximal erosion and bulking.
Where there is less contrast between the sand grains in the debrites
and those in the underlying sand, the incision may have been
farther down the system, and bulking due to erosion may have
driven flow evolution.
5. Conclusions
Although many turbidity currents become increasingly dilute as
they ingest water and drop sediment to the bed, others appear to
evolve to more cohesive behaviour towards their lateral and distal
limit of runout. The latter emplace characteristic hybrid event beds
 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
that capture significant longitudinal variations in flow rheology as
the flow passes. A typical hybrid bed comprises up to five internal
divisions from base to top: generally structureless sandstone
deposited from the frontal, high-density turbidity current part of
the flow, banded sandstone (succeeding transitional flow), clast-
rich muddy sandstone (debris flow), laminated sandstone (low-
concentration turbidity current) and mudstone cap (representing
suspension fallout) – here termed H1–5, respectively. The common
distal expression, presence of gradational contacts between less
and more cohesive behaviour and evidence for hydraulic segrega-
tion of components suggests that many hybrid event beds arise via
flow transformations during flow runout. The presence of mud
clasts suspended in muddy sandstone augers the onset of laminar
or weakly turbulent flow conditions and implies that erosion and
hydraulic concentration of the clasts within largely turbulent flows
is important to subsequently forcing flow transformations. Attrition
and disintegration of mud clasts carried in near-bed layers can
release clay particles, whose interactions dampen turbulence
towards the base of the current, promoting cohesive effects,
laminar or only weakly turbulent flow and en-masse rather than
grain-by-grain deposition. The upper, low-concentration levels of
the flow may remain turbulent and influence the final stages of
deposition. The scale of the system and the site of erosion along the
flow pathway may influence the character of the deposit as it will
determine the length scale and extent of longitudinal rheological
changes, and the time interval between the arrival of different flow
components. Larger systems are characterised by less interaction
between the different stages of the flow, greater mud clast attrition
and in some cases by the development of banded divisions
resulting from a zone of transitional flow between the turbulent
front of the current and the following debris flow. Banded deposits
previously described as a separate category of ‘slurry’ flow can be
seen as part of a wider spectrum of hybrid event bed types. In cases
where the hybrid event beds arise by erosional bulking and
turbulence suppression, their distribution at system scale can help
identify whether the system is in equilibrium or not. Hybrid beds
are common in the outer reaches of systems that are out-of-grade
up-dip by virtue of changes in flow scale, active tectonics or
continuing substrate deformation. They are locally common in fan
initiation stages during channel development and extension, and/
or prior to systems attaining grade when initiated over inherited
slope profiles.
Acknowledgments
The research described here was partly funded under the
auspices of Phase 5 of the Turbidites Research Group by Anadarko,
BG-Group, BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Kerr McGee,
Devon, Maersk, Norsk Hydro, Shell, Statoil and Woodside. We
would like to thank journal referees David Hodgson and Peter
Talling and editor Lawrence Amy for their perceptive comments on
the original manuscript.
References
Amy, L.A., Talling, P.J., 2006. Anatomy of turbidites and linked debrites based on
long distance (120  30 km) bed correlation, Marnoso Arenacea Formation,
Northern Apennines, Italy. Sedimentology 53, 161–212.
Amy, L.A., Talling, P.J., Edmonds, V.O., Sumner, E.J., Lesueur, A., 2006. An experi-
mental investigation of sand–mud suspension settling behaviour: implications
for bimodal mud contents of submarine flow deposits. Sedimentology 53,
1411–1434.
Baas, J.H., Best, J.L., 2002. Turbulence modulation in clay-rich sediment-laden flows
and some implications for sediment deposition. Journal of Sedimentary
Research 72, 336–340.
Barker, S.P., Haughton, P.D.W., McCaffrey, W.D., Archer, S.G., Hakes, B., 2008.
Development of rheological heterogeneity in clay-rich high-density turbidity
1917
currents: Aptian Britannia Sandstone Member, U.K. continental shelf. Journal of
Sedimentary Research 78, 45–68.
Blackbourn, G.A., Thomson, M.E., 2000. Britannia Field, UR North Sea: petrographic
constraints on Lower Cretaceous provenance, facies and the origin of slurry-
flow deposits. Petroleum Geoscience 6, 329–343.
Bouma, A.H., 1987. Megaturbidite: an acceptable term? Geo-Marine Letters 7,
63–67.
Chang, A.S., Grimm, K.A., 1999. Speckled beds: distinctive gravity-flow deposits in
finely laminated diatomaceous sediments, Miocene Monterey Formation,
California. Journal of Sedimentary Research 69, 122–134.
Davis, C., Haughton, P., McCaffrey, W., Scott, E., Hogg, N., Kitching, D., 2009. Char-
acter and distribution of hybrid sediment gravity flow deposits from the outer
Forties Fan, Palaeocene Central North Sea. UKCS. Marine and Petroleum Geology
26, 1919–1939.
Deller, K.E., Payenberg, T.H.D., Lang, S.C., Daniel, R., 2006. Sedimentological insights
into deepwater mass gravity sands from the North West Shelf, Australia. In:
AAPG Annual Conference Abstract Volume, Houston, Texas.
Dreyer, T., Bujak, J., Brunstad, H., Ramberg, J., Søyseth, L., 2004. Mixed deep- and
shallow-water depositional model for the Forties Sandstone Member in the
South Central Graben, North Sea. Norwegian Journal of Geology 84, 191–233.
Elliot, T.R., 2000. Depositional architecture of a sand-rich, channelized turbidite
system: the upper carboniferous Ross Sandstone Formation, western Ireland.
In: Gulf Coast Section SEPM Annual Research Conference, Deep-water Reser-
voirs of the World, pp. 342–373.
Fisher, R.V., 1983. Flow transformations in sediment gravity flows. Geology 11,
273–274.
Fugelli, E.G.M., Olsen, T.R., 2007. Delineating confined slope turbidite systems
offshore mid-Norway: the Cretaceous deep-marine Lysing Formation. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 91, 1577–1601.
Garland, C.R., Haughton, P.D.W., King, R.F., Moulds, T.P., 1999. Capturing reservoir
heterogeneity in a small, sand-rich submarine fan, Miller field. In: Fleet, A.J.,
Boldy, S.A.R. (Eds.), Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: Proceedings of the 5th
Conference, pp. 1199–1208.
Gee, M.J.R., Masson, D.G., Watts, A.B., Allen, P.A., 1999. The Saharan debris flow: an
insight into the mechanics of long runout submarine debris flows. Sedimen-
tology 46, 317–335.
Ghibaudo, G., 1992. Subaqueous sediment gravity flow deposits – practical criteria
for their field description and classification. Sedimentology 39, 423–454.
Hampton, M.A., 1972. The role of subaqueous debris flow in generating turbidity
currents. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 42, 775–793.
Haughton, P.D.W., 2000. Evolving turbidite systems on a deforming basin floor,
Tabernas, SE Spain. Sedimentology 47, 497–518.
Haughton, P.D.W., Barker, S.P., McCaffrey, W., 2003. ‘Linked’ debrites in sand-rich
turbidite systems – origin and significance. Sedimentology 50, 459–482.
Higgs, R., Reading, H.G., Burne, R.V., 1998. Return of ‘‘The fan that never was’’;
Westphalian turbidite systems in the Variscan Culm Basin; Bude Formation
(South-West England); discussion and reply. Sedimentology 45, 961–975.
Johansson, M., Stow, D.A.V., 1995. A Classification Scheme for Shale Clasts in Deep
Water Sandstones. In: Geological Society, Special Publications, vol. 94 221–241.
Kawakami, G., Kawamura, M., 2002. Sediment flow and deformation (SFD) layers:
evidence for intrastratal flow in laminated muddy sediments of the Triassic Osawa
Formation, Northeast Japan. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 72, 171–181.
Kleverlaan, K., 1987. Gordo megabed: a possible seismite in a Tortonian submarine
fan, Tabernas Basin, province Almerı́a, southeast Spain. Sedimentary Geology
51, 165–180.
Kneller, B.C., Branney, M.J., 1995. Sustained high-density turbidity currents and the
deposition of thick massive sands. Sedimentology 42, 607–616.
Kneller, B., Buckee, C., 2000. The structure and fluid mechanics of turbidity
currents: a review of some recent studies and their geological implications.
Sedimentology 47, 62–94.
Kneller, B.C., McCaffrey, W.D., 2003. The interpretation of vertical sequences in
turbidite beds: the influence of longitudinal flow structure. Journal of Sedi-
mentary Research 73, 706–713.
Leach, H.M., Herbert, N., Los, A., Smith, R.L., 1999. The Schiehallion development. In:
Fleet, A.J., Boldy, S.A.R. (Eds.), Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: Proceedings of
the 5th Conference, pp. 683–692.
Lowe, D.R., 1982. Sediment gravity flows; II, depositional models with special
reference to the deposits of high-density turbidity currents. Journal of Sedi-
mentary Petrology 52, 279–297.
Lowe, D.R., Guy, M., 2000. Slurry-flow deposits in the Britannia Formation (Lower
Cretaceous), North Sea: a new perspective on the turbidity current and debris
flow problem. Sedimentology 47, 31–70.
Lowe, D.R., Guy, M., Palfrey, A., 2003. Facies of slurry-flow deposits, Britannia
Formation (lower Cretaceous), North Sea: implications for flow evolution and
deposit geometry. Sedimentology 50, 45–80.
Marr, J.G., Harff, P.A., Shanmugam, G., Parker, G., 2001. Experiments on subaqueous
sandy gravity flows: the role of clay and water content in flow dynamics and
depositional structures. Geological Society of America Bulletin 113, 1377–1386.
Martinsen, O.J., Lien, T., Walker, R.G., 2000. Upper Carboniferous deep water sedi-
ments, western Ireland: analogues for passive margin turbidite plays. In: Gulf
Coast Section SEPM Annual Research Conference, Deep-water Reservoirs of the
World, pp. 533–555.
McCaffrey, W.D., Kneller, B., 2001. Process controls on the development of stratigraphic
trap potential on the margins of confined turbidite systems and aids to reservoir
evaluation. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 85, 971–988.
1918 P. Haughton et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1900–1918
McCave, I.N., Jones, K.P.N., 1988. Deposition of ungraded muds from high-density
non-turbulent turbidity currents. Nature 333, 250–252.
Mohrig, D., Whipple, K.X., Hondzo, M., Ellis, C., Parker, G., 1998. Hydroplaning of
subaqueous debris flows. Geological Society of America Bulletin 110,
387–394.
Mulder, T., Alexander, J., 2001. The physical character of subaqueous sedimentary
density flows and their deposits. Sedimentology 48, 269–299.
Mulder, T., Savoye, B., Syvitski, J.P.M., 1997. Numerical modelling of a mid-sized
gravity flow: the 1979 Nice turbidity current (dynamics, processes, sediment
budget and seafloor impact). Sedimentology 44, 305–326.
Mutti, E., 1992. Turbidite Sandstones. AGIP, 275 pp.
Mutti, E., Ricci Lucchi, F., Seguret, M., Zanzucchi, G., 1984. Seismoturbidites: a new
group of resedimented deposits. Marine Geology 55, 103–116.
Nemec, W., 1990. Aspects of sediment movement on steep delta slopes. In:
Colella, A., Prior, D.B. (Eds.), Coarse-grained Deltas. Special Publication of the
International Association of Sedimentologists, vol. 10, pp. 29–73.
Pickering, K.T., Hiscott, R.N., Hein, F.J., 1989. Deep Marine Environments: Clastic
Sedimentation and Tectonics. Unwin Hyman Ltd, London, 416 pp.
Pierson, T.C., Costa, J.E., 1987. A rheologic classification of subaerial sediment–
water flows. Geological Society of America Reviews of Engineering Geology 7,
1–12.
Piper, D.J.W., Asku, A.E., 1987. The source and origin of the 1929 Grand Banks
turbidity current inferred from sediment budgets. Geo-Marine Letters 7,
177–182.
Piper, D.J.W., Cochonat, P., Morrison, M.L., 1999. The sequence of events around the
epicentre of the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: initiation of debris flows and
turbidity current inferred from sidescan sonar. Sedimentology 46, 79–97.
Postma, G., Nemec, W., Kleinspehn, K.L., 1988. Large floating clasts in turbidites:
a mechanism for their emplacement. Sedimentary Geology 58, 47–61.
Ricci Lucchi, F., Valmori, E., 1980. Basin-wide turbidites in a Miocene, over-supplied
deep-sea plain: a geometrical analysis. Sedimentology 27, 241–270.
Saller, A., Lin, R., Dunham, J., 2006. Leaves in turbidite sands: the main source of oil
and gas in the deep-water Kutei Basin, Indonesia. American Association of
Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 90, 1585–1608.
Schwehr, K., Driscoll, N., Tauxe, L., 2007. Origin of continental margin morphology:
submarine-slide or downslope current-controlled bedforms, a rock magnetic
approach. Marine Geology 240 (1–4), 19–41.
Seguret, M., Labaume, P., Madariaga, R., 1984. Eocene seismicity in the Pyrenees
from megaturbidites of the South Pyrenean Basin (Spain). Marine Geology 55,
117–131.
Shanmugam, G., 1996. High-density turbidity currents: are they sandy debris flows?
Journal of Sedimentary Research 66, 2–10.
Stow, D.V., Johansson, M., 2000. Deep-water massive sands: nature, origin and
hydrocarbon implications. Marine and Petroleum Geology 17, 145–174.
Stow, D.A.V., Reading, H.G., Collinson, J.D., 1996. Deep seas. In: Reading, H.G. (Ed.),
Sedimentary Environments: Processes, Facies and Stratigraphy. Blackwell
Science, Oxford, pp. 395–453.
Sylvester, Z., Lowe, D.R., 2004. Textural trends in turbidites and slurry beds from the
Oligocene flysch of the East Carpathians, Romania. Sedimentology 51, 945–972.
Syvitski, J.P.M., Schafer, C.T., 1996. Evidence for an earthquake-triggered basin
collapse in Saguenay Fjord, Canada. Sedimentary Geology 104, 127–153.
Talling, P.J., Amy, L.A., Wynn, R.B., Peakall, J., Robinson, M., 2004. Beds comprising
debrite sandwiched within co-genetic turbidite: origin and widespread occur-
rence in distal depositional environments. Sedimentology 51, 163–194.
Talling, P.J., Wynn, R.B., Masson, D.G., Frenz, M., Schiebel, R., Akhmetzhanov, A.,
Dallmeier-Tiessen, S., Benetti, S., Weaver, P.P.E., Georgiopoulou, A., Holz, C.,
Cronin, B.T., Amy, L.A., 2007. Debris flow deposition from giant submarine flow
begins far away from original landslide. Nature 450, 541–544.
Waltham, D., 2004. Flow transformations in particulate gravity currents. Journal of
Sedimentary Research, 129–134.
Wood, A., Smith, A.J., 1958. Two undescribed structures in a greywacke series.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 28, 97–101.
Wood, A., Smith, A.J., 1959. The sedimentation and sedimentary history of the
Aberystwyth Grits (Upper Llandoverian). Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society, London 114, 163–195.
Zeng, J.J., Lowe, D.R., Prior, D.B., Wiseman, W.J., Bornhold, B.D., 1991. Flow prop-
erties of turbidity currents in Bute Inlet, British Columbia. Sedimentology 38,
975–996.