Submarine gravity flow processes on carbonate platform slopes can lead to the deposition of calciturbidite and calcidebrite beds on the adjacent deep-water seafloor. Such deposits have been previously found to occur more frequently during sea-level highstands, leading to increased export of carbonates to the deep sea during interglacial periods. Here, we document a new occurrence of these types of event beds in cores near a series of volcano-cored carbonate platforms in the Mozambique Channel (SW Indian Ocean), describing them from a sedimentological perspective and analyzing the controls on their distribution. 32 event beds, located near four isolated platforms, are composed primarily of uncoated skeletal grains from primarily shallow-water and planktic taxa. Compositional analysis shows that planktic foraminifera are hydrodynamically sorted such that they form a greater proportion of the upper parts of event beds. Age models based on foraminifer δ¹⁸O isotope data allow for precise (ky-scale) dating of each gravity flow event; results show that events occurred with frequencies ranging from 2 to 4 events per 100,000 years over the past ~ 800 kyr regardless of the phase within the sea-level cycle (i.e., transgressive, regressive, highstand or lowstand). However, events were most frequent during periods, both relative and absolute, of highest sea level, and are therefore interpreted to be controlled in part by sea-level status or change, though additional causes are also possible.

碳酸盐台地斜坡上的海底重力流过程可能导致钙硅钙石和方解石床沉积在相邻的深海海底上。以前已经发现这种沉积物在海平面高位期间更频繁地发生，导致在冰期之间碳酸盐岩向深海的出口增加。在此，我们记录了莫桑比克海峡（西南印度洋）一系列火山岩心碳酸盐岩平台附近岩心中新出现的这类事件床，从沉积学角度对其进行了描述，并分析了它们的分布控制。位于四个隔离平台附近的32个活动床主要由来自浅水和板状类群的未涂层骨骼颗粒组成。成分分析表明，板式有孔虫是通过流体动力学分类的，因此它们占活动床上部的比例更大。基于有孔虫的年龄模型δ ¹⁸氧同位素数据允许精确（KY-规模）每个重力流事件的约会; 结果表明，在过去的〜800 kyr内，事件发生的频率范围为每100,000年2至4个事件，而与海平面周期内的阶段（即海侵，逆行，高潮或低潮）无关。但是，事件在最高海平面的相对和绝对期间都是最常见的，因此可以解释为部分受海平面状态或变化控制，尽管也可能有其他原因。