Large sub-tropical carbonate platforms shed huge volumes of sediment onto their adjacent slopes. Resulting carbonate successions are comprised of gravity-flow beds (turbidites, debrites), which are occasionally reworked into mass-transport deposits (MTDs) by the failure of inconsistently lithified portions of slope strata. Despite their significance in the depositional record, the internal architecture of MTDs along relatively tectonically stable and sediment-producing carbonate platforms is poorly understood in comparison with counterparts in active compressional tectonic settings. This study compares carbonate-slope-derived MTDs imaged in seismic reflection data with those observed in outcrop. The internal architecture of MTDs from two case studies is presented: the seismically-imaged MTDs in Miocene-Recent carbonate-slope deposits from the Bahamas, and MTDs off the Cretaceous Apulian carbonate margin exposed in outcrops of the Ionian Basin (Albania). Understanding the large-scale (kilometers to tens of kilometers) internal architecture of MTDs in seismic is crucial for identification of these structures in outcrop. In turn, only outcrop studies allow the detailed analysis of the reworking style within these massive sediment bodies at a smaller scale (meters to kilometers). The internal architecture of the studied carbonate MTDs testifies to the existence of an along-slope continuum of deformation structures, characterized by vertical partitioning into distinct mass flows during single mass-transport events. Mass-wasting processes are inferred from strain-partitioning structures, recording along-slope and slope-parallel architectural heterogeneities. Three deformation domains are recognized: extensional headwall domain, translational body domain, and contractional toe domain. Confined MTDs are limited by steep and deep lateral margins and frontal ramps that mark the boundaries between failed deposits and undisturbed strata. Vertical strain-partitioning is pronounced in the toe domain. Upward intensification of deformation within MTDs is common and corresponds to a top-down reorganization of failed strata during downslope transport. Intra-formational MTDs along carbonate slopes that are lacking exotics, such as the ones studied here, differ from extra-formational MTDs occurring in compressional tectonic settings that form sedimentary mélanges. Ductile-layer deformation structures are predominant in carbonate MTDs as opposed to block-in-matrix fabrics in sedimentary mélanges. The development of shear surfaces, rather than ductile shear zones, in the body and toe domains presents predictive (in modern environments) and diagnostic criteria (in fossil examples) of mass-wasting events along carbonate slopes.

大型的亚热带碳酸盐台地将大量沉积物沉积到其相邻的斜坡上。产生的碳酸盐岩层序由重力流化床（浊度，碎屑）组成，由于斜坡地层的不一致的岩化部分的破坏，有时会将其重做成质量传输沉积物（MTD）。尽管它们在沉积记录中具有重要意义，但与活动构造构造环境中的对应构造相比，沿构造相对稳定且产生沉积物的碳酸盐台地MTD的内部构造却知之甚少。这项研究将地震反射数据中成像的碳酸盐岩边坡MTDs与露头观测到的MTDs进行了比较。提出了来自两个案例研究的MTD的内部体系结构：巴哈马中新世-最近碳酸盐岩斜坡沉积中的地震成像MTD，以及爱奥尼亚盆地露头（阿尔巴尼亚）露出的白垩纪阿普利亚碳酸盐岩边缘的MTD。了解地震中MTD的大规模（千米至数十公里）内部结构对于识别露头中的这些结构至关重要。反过来，只有露头研究才能在较小规模（米至公里）内对这些块状沉积物体内的返工方式进行详细分析。研究的碳酸盐MTD的内部结构证明了变形结构沿斜坡连续体的存在，其特征是在单个传质事件期间垂直划分为不同的质量流。大量浪费的过程是从应变分配结构推断出来的，记录沿坡度和坡度平行的建筑异质性。可以识别三个变形域：延伸头壁区域，平移体区域和收缩趾区域。受限的MTD受陡峭而深处的侧向边缘和额线斜坡的限制，这些斜坡标志着失败的沉积物和未扰动的地层之间的边界。垂直应变分区在脚趾域中明显。MTD内部变形的向上加剧是普遍现象，并且对应于下坡运输过程中失效地层的自上而下的重组。沿碳酸盐岩边坡的构造内MTD缺乏稀有性，例如此处研究的MTD，与形成沉积混杂岩的压缩构造环境中发生的构造外MTD不同。碳酸盐MTD中韧性层变形结构占主导地位，与沉积混杂岩中的块状基质结构相反。身体和脚趾区域内剪切表面的发展，而不是韧性剪切区域的发展，提供了碳酸盐岩边坡质量消减事件的预测（在现代环境中）和诊断标准（在化石实例中）。