Introduction

Abstract

The clearest tie between seismic facies and the sedimentary features and processes of submarine fans can be achieved through the study of modern deep-sea fans and related turbidite systems. Turbidity currents within any given fan system can exhibit great variability in flow properties. The depositional patterns for individual flows are controlled by complex interactions between morphologic features of various scales (from major fan valleys to small erosional and depositional bedforms), and the size, velocity, and sediment content of the turbidity flow (Piper and Normark, 1983; Normark, 1985). Only modern fans afford the opportunity to directly observe the true morphology of the fan, the basin shape, and the size of the sediment pathway(s) from the source area, because these parameters are obscured or, at best, only partially preserved in older, now buried (and often tectonized) submarine fans. Fortunately, both modern and ancient fans can be imaged by seismic-reflection techniques, and direct comparison of modern and ancient fan systems may be possible in many cases.