1 Sedimentary Geology Achimer April 2016, Volume 335, Pages 34-50 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2016.01.020 http://archimer.ifremer.fr http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00312/42273/ © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved Turbidity current activity along the flanks of a volcanic edifice: The mafate volcaniclastic complex, La Réunion Island, Indian Ocean Mazuel Aude 1, *, Sisavath Emmanuelle 2, Babonneau Nathalie 1, Jorry Stephan 3, Bachèlery Patrick 4, Delacourt Christophe 1 1 Université de Brest, IUEM, UMR CNRS 6538, Domaines Océaniques, Place Nicolas Copernic, 29280 Plouzané, Franc 2 Fugro GeoConsulting SA, 39 rue des Peupliers, 92752 Nanterre, France 3 IFREMER, Carnot Edrome, Unité Géosciences Marines, BP70, 29280 Plouzané, France 4 Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, UMR CNRS-IRD 6524, Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand, Université Blaise Pascal, 5, rue Kessler, 63038 Clermont-Ferrand, France * Corresponding author : Aude Mazuel, Tel.: + 33 2 29 49 88 94; fax: + 33 2 98 49 86 09. ; email address :
[email protected] Abstract : Recent marine geophysical surveys reveal the existence of well-developed volcaniclastic deep-sea fans around La Réunion Island, Indian Ocean. The Mafate turbidite complex, located in the northwestern part of the island, is a large sedimentary system formed by two coalescent-like volcaniclastic deep-sea fans: the Mafate fan and the Saint-Denis fan. They are both connected to terrestrial rivers supplying sediment produced by erosion on the island, particularly during austral summer cyclonic floods. Through the integration of marine geophysical data (including bathymetry, backscatter multibeam sounder images, TOBI side-scan sonar images and seismic reflection profiles) and piston cores, a submarine morpho- sedimentary map of the surface architecture of the Mafate and Saint-Denis turbidite systems has been established.