Depositional areas are composed of several overlapping lobes owing to periodic discharge events, and each discharge is associated with its own distinctive nose. Seaward of the edge of the lobes, extensive small-scale pressure ridges are arranged sinuously and parallel. Extensive fields of mud vents and volcanoes emitting gas, water and fluid mud are found associated with the lobes and directly seaward of the noses; these undoubtedly result from rapid loading of underlying sediment as well as consolidation processes within the debris itself. Thicknesses of the lobes are difficult to determine, but each distinct lobe is normally 20 or so meters thick, and because of overlapping, the total thickness of mudflow can often approach 50 to 60 m. In one area of the Mississippi River delta, in water depths of approximately 200 to 250 m, depositional lobes cover approximately 770 sq km with discharged debris volume of 11.2 x 10<sup>6</sup> cu m. | Depositional areas are composed of several overlapping lobes owing to periodic discharge events, and each discharge is associated with its own distinctive nose. Seaward of the edge of the lobes, extensive small-scale pressure ridges are arranged sinuously and parallel. Extensive fields of mud vents and volcanoes emitting gas, water and fluid mud are found associated with the lobes and directly seaward of the noses; these undoubtedly result from rapid loading of underlying sediment as well as consolidation processes within the debris itself. Thicknesses of the lobes are difficult to determine, but each distinct lobe is normally 20 or so meters thick, and because of overlapping, the total thickness of mudflow can often approach 50 to 60 m. In one area of the Mississippi River delta, in water depths of approximately 200 to 250 m, depositional lobes cover approximately 770 sq km with discharged debris volume of 11.2 x 10<sup>6</sup> cu m. |