Subaqueous mass movements include landslides, debris flows and turbidity currents. Their far-reaching impacts threaten densely-populated coastal regions, global economies and the environment. They have the potential to generate devastating tsunamis, severely damage seafloor infrastructure and transport vast amounts of sediment and microplastics to the ocean floor. They also play an important role in the deep sea burial of organic carbon.

Although often compared to their subaerial counterparts, run-out distances of subaqueous mass movements may be substantially greater (hundreds of kilometres), and can occur at remarkably lower gradients (