EROSIONAL AND DEPOSITIONAL PATTERNS IN THE VALENCIA CHANNEL MOUTH - AN EXAMPLE OF A MODERN CHANNEL-LOBE TRANSITION ZONE (VOL 17, PG 503, 1995)

Recent deep-towed, high resolution sidescan sonar records and seismic profiles have been collected on the lower Valencia Fan (Northwestern M editerranean). Three morphological zones, channelled, transition and u nchannelled, have been recognized in the Valencia Channel mouth. Sonog raphs from the transition zone show a progresive transversal gradation from depositional to erosional bedforms. This asymmetry may be due to the lateral inputs of sediment Bows from the Rhone deep-sea fan and t o the effect of the Coriolis force, which could have diverted the flow s to the south west. Bedforms recorded in the study area include train s of starved ripples and dunes, sand ribbons, and fields of elongated scours. Most morphological features, bedforms and seismic characterist ics of the Valencia Channel mouth are typical of channel-lobe transiti on zones.