Abstract

The Gulf of Lions presents recurring mass-transport deposits (MTDs) within the Plio-Quaternary sediments, suggesting a long history of mass movements. The two large, surficial MTDs are located on the eastern and western levee of the Rhone canyon over an area exceeding 6000 km² and volumes exceeding 100 km³. Both MTDs were emplaced 21 ka ago (peak of the Last Glacial Maximum), suggesting a common trigger. Here, we present a multidisciplinary high-resolution geophysical, sedimentological and in-situ geotechnical study of the source and deposit areas of both MTDs to characterize distinct expressions of sediment deformation as well as their spatial and chronological distributions. We show the internal structure of mass movements and resulting MTDs with unprecedented details that were previously represented in the conventional seismic data as transparent and chaotic facies. The combination of multidisciplinary approaches shows new insights into the nature of basal surfaces of the slope failures. In particular, we show that the basal surfaces of the failures consist of clay-rich material contrasting with the overlying turbiditic deposits, suggesting that a strong lithological heterogeneity exists within the strata. We suggest that this change in lithology between clay-rich sediments and turbiditic sequences most likely controls the localization of weak layers and landslide basal surfaces.