Turbidite outcrop studies, combined with those on modern depositional systems, provided an initial and generally successful approach to industry exploration and production. However, with progressive exploration of continental margins, ocean slopes and deep-water basins, a new and very different set of data on turbidites has been established from seismic and borehole information. A new generation of hypotheses on deep-marine clastic depositional systems has thus been set up, tested and iterated with the earlier ideas. The session intends to cover the science developed by the feed-back between academia and industry regarding depositional processes, deposits and the major factors controlling turbidite systems. Papers are invited to focus on relevant aspects of turbidite outcrops and systems, and in particular how the feedback between both sources has contributed to scientific understanding of turbidites