Facies and microfacies of slope deposits

This paper reviews the facies and microfacies of the main types of slope deposits. Lamination and sorting, when preserved, are good evidence for overland flow. Features due to deformation (folds, boudins, coatings and tails due to the rotation of clasts) are associated with the early stages of deformation in earth slides. Other mass-movements such as debris flows, rock avalanches, earth flows, and to a certain extent, dry grain flows may be characterised by similar microscopic facies, typically a poorly sorted, porphyric material. Porosity gives evidence for both liquefaction (debris flows) and frost-induced mass-movement (solifluction). However, this criterion is thought to be irrelevant for fossil deposits owing to the rapidity and scale of post-depositional changes (wetting and drying, freezing and thawing, bioturbation). At present, only a detailed analysis of both the macro- and micromorphological characteristics of the deposits allows an accurate identification of past slope dynamics.