Submarine landforms associated with turbidity currents are well developed in the South China Sea (SCS). There are numerous submarine canyons in the continental slopes. Sediment waves and cyclic step bedforms related to the supercritical turbidity currents are distributed along the thalwegs, on the overbank areas or off the outlets of some submarine canyons. However, large-scale submarine fans at the foot of the continental slopes are rarely observed; on the other hand, a high proportion of turbidites are found being preserved in the pelagic to the hemipelagic succession of the abyssal plain. We suggest that the turbidity currents traversing the submarine canyons could be of high energy, enough to sustain a longer distance transport along the abyssal plain even after the deceleration at the foot of the continental slopes. The turbidity-current associated landforms in the SCS were mostly initiated in the late Miocene, and might be closely related to the active plate tectonics in the SCS and surrounding areas.

deep-sea landforms  /  supercritical turbidity currents  /  submarine canyons  /  sediment waves  /  cyclic steps  /  South China Sea