Age of deposition versus age of remobilized sediments in turbidites and implication for the duration of transport

Turbidites are underwater land sliding events that correspond to the most distal part of the source-to-sink system. They can be triggered by a number of processes including flood events, storms, earthquakes or simply destabilization of a continental slope and are a vector of terrestrial sediments to deep depocenters. Marine sedimentary cores recording turbidites represent key sedimentary archives and can be used to track back the occurrence of such land and sea processes giving information on terrestrial paleo conditions.

Unfortunately, it is often difficult to assess which process initiated turbidites in particular because these are usually poorly dated. In most studies, turbidites are considered as instantaneous events and dated using foraminifera of the over and underlying hemipelagic layers. In this study, we bring new light on the age of the material remobilized by turbidites. To do so, we use ¹⁴C to date 20 samples of foraminifera and 38 samples of vegetal debris contained in two turbidites from two different cores of the Ogooué turbiditic system in western Africa. We have also dated foraminifera in the hemipelagic layers above and under these turbidites. The radiocarbon ages measured in the turbidites, when compared to the depositional ages of under- and overlying hemipelagic layers constrain the total transportation time from the source to the turbidite deposition, including both the duration of transport on land, and the potential storage of the sediments onshore and offshore (on the continental margin).

Our results shed new light on the transport and residence time of sediments in the Ogooué drainage system which is under 15 ka, on the residence time of sediments on the continental slopes or margins which is of about 3 ka, and on the depositional sequences and mechanisms of turbidites in said system. In a broader sense, it allows a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling turbidite deposition and its intrinsic timings.