CLASSIFICATION OF OFFSHORE MASS MOVEMENTS

More than 100 offshore mass-movement deposits have been studied in Hol ocene and Pleistocene sediments. The processes can be divided into thr ee main types: slides/slumps, plastic flows, and turbidity currents, o f which 13 main varieties have been recognized. The three types are di fferentiated mainly by motion, architecture, and shape of failure surf ace. For slides, the morphology of deposits can usually be linked to a process, but for plastic flows and turbidity currents, information ab out the motion is mainly provided by the sedimentary record. A static classification based on these features is given, and is related to a d ynamic classification system to try to underline the morphological tra nsformation of an offshore event from initiation to deposition.