Experimental Modelling of Turbidity Currents as they Undergo a Simultaneous Break in Slope and Loss of Lateral Confinement: An Analogue for Channel-Lobe Transition Zones

Results are presented from the current experimental campaign which aims to observe the character of supercritical turbidity currents and other supercritical sediment gravity flows (SGFs) as they respond to morphological transition zones e.g. slope breaks and losses of lateral confinement. This experimental setup aims to reproduce lower slope, channel-lobe transition zone, and, proximal lobe conditions, in order to be analogous to conditions found within deep-marine sedimentary environments such as those within foreland basins, and passive margins. Of particular interest is the sedimentological expression of these systems, and how variability, such as bedforms and scour fields, within them arises, and how does an understanding of current dynamics help in the prediction of these features.