Turbidity current

A turbidity current is most typically an underwater current of usually rapidly moving, sediment-laden water moving down a slope or through a submarine canyon. Turbidity currents can also occur in other fluids besides water. In the most typical case of oceanic turbidity currents, sediment laden waters situated over sloping ground tend to move or flow down-hill because they have a higher density than the adjacent waters through which they flow. The driving force behind a turbidity current is the high density of the sediments temporarily suspended within it. These semi-suspended solids tend to render the average density of the sediment bearing water as greater than that of the clear water through which it falls or flows.