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Terrigenous Turbidites and Associated Facies |
Laboratoire de Sedimentologie et Géochimie Marines, Université de perpignan, Avenue de Villeneuve, 66025, Perpignan, France
High-resolution seismic surveys across the western Hellenic Arc show that the Plio-Quaternary cover is highly discontinuous along most of the margin. The slope displays a series of basins separated by ridges generally devoid of sediment. Sedimentological analyses of the recent sediment permit the origin and processes of sedimentation to be defined. The sediments provided by a specific area on land are successively trapped, released by the slope basins and transferred via channels and canyons towards the deeper trench basins. Several main provinces can be distinguished. Each of them includes one or more slope basins and trenches without either lateral connection or the mixing of sediment inputs. The diversity and complexity of sedimentary structures, the granulometric characters, and the variability in rates of sedimentation argue for the prevalence of mass gravity processes. The transfer of sediment from the upper slope basins to the outer trench is effected by an alternation of short periods of giant mudflows and regular but slight reworking between slope basins. This cascade-feeding process, characteristic of the Hellenic subduction margin, does not appear to prevent terrigenous material from reaching the deep trenches. We compare this briefly with sedimentation on passive margins in the western Mediterranean Basin.
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