Giant sediment wave fields adjacent to debris-flow filled deep sea valleys: New evidence of cohesive flows transforming into dilute turbidity currents

Sediment waves are subaqueous sedimentary figures belonging to the supercritical flow domain and are of growing interest to the scientific community and industry. They are ubiquitously observed on the seafloor of world's oceans, as well as in the stratigraphic record imaged by marine seismic datasets. In this study we focus on the Cenozoic strata offshore Ivory Coast, where giant sediment waves developed at the base of slope range in height and wavelength: 10–100 m and 1–6 km, respectively. Sediment waves fields in this study developed simultaneously and adjacent to wide, rectilinear valleys, filled by mass-transport deposits. Thus, sediment waves serve as a rare example of large-scale deep-water cyclic steps formed through phase transformation (water entrainment and dilution) of laminar debris flows.

The lithological nature of sediment waves can be estimated through the observation of polygonal faulting affecting the sediment waves fields, which suggest a dominant abundance of fine-grained material (clay and silt-prone). This study also shows that wide submarine valleys flanked by sediment waves do not necessarily correspond to sand-prone depositional systems, and that their potential to hold reservoir units for hydrocarbon exploration or CO₂ storage should be evaluated with caution when in lower resolution datasets are used.