Transition from debris flow to hyperconcentrated flow in a submarine channel (the Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation, southern Chile)

Abstract

It is important to understand the exact process whereby very large amounts of sediment are transported. This paper reports peculiar conglomerate beds reflecting the transition of submarine debris flows into hyperconcentrated flows, something that has been well documented only in subaerial debris-flow events until now. Voluminous debris flows generated along a Cretaceous submarine channel, southern Chile, transformed immediately into multiphase flows. Their deposits overlie fluted or grooved surfaces and comprise a lower division of clast-supported and imbricated pebble-cobble conglomerate with basal inverse grading and an upper division of clast- to matrix-supported, disorganized conglomerate with abundant intraformational clasts. The conglomerate beds suggest temporal succession of turbidity current, gravelly hyperconcentrated flow, and mud-rich debris flow phases. The multiphase flows resulted from progressive dilution of gravelly but cohesive debris flows that could hydroplane, in contrast to the flow transitions in subaerial environments, which involve mostly non-cohesive debris flows. This finding has significant implications for the definition, classification, and hazard assessment of submarine mass-movement processes and characterization of submarine reservoir rocks.