Slope gradient and lithology as controls on the initiation of submarine slope gullies; Insights from the North Carnarvon Basin, Offshore NW Australia

Slope-confined submarine gullies are present on many continental margins, yet the controls on their initiation and demise are poorly understood because modern or recently active systems are rarely if ever monitored, and exhumed systems, typically formed in very fine-grained successions, are poorly preserved at outcrop. We use 3D seismic reflection and borehole data from offshore NW Australia to investigate long-term (~ 40 Myr) variations in the geomorphology of Eocene-to-Miocene gullies that developed in mixed carbonate–clastic clinothems. Through time, clinoform slope gradient increases from 1.6° to 3.2°, with gullies forming when the clinoform slope exceeds 2.5°. After their inception, gullies increase in width (from 350 m to 770 m) and depth (from 37 m to 60 m). Slope steepening appears to coincide with a change from poorly cemented, fine-grained carbonate to better-cemented, coarse-grained carbonate, implying a secondary, lithological control on slope dip and, ultimately, gully formation.