Analysis of 2D multi-channel seismic data provided evidences that sediment slides are recurrent elements in the sedimentary succession of the Foz do Amazonas Basin. In the Amazon Fan, a linked extensional-contractional system glides along weak levels, forming gravitational fold-and-thrust belts of regional scale. Gravity-related fault scarps and sea-floor uplifts (up to 500 m high) induced surficial sediment slides along thrust-faults (average thickness between 200-300 m), resulting in structurally-driven mass movement deposits, as large as 10(4) km². We document, as well, the occurrence of two thick large-scale megaslides along the steep margin to the NW and to the SE of the fan. Megaslides can remobilize siliciclastic series downslope as allochthonous masses over areas as large as thousands of km²: the Pará-Maranhão Megaslide (up to 1000 m thick) extends downslope to the Pará-Maranhão Basin over an area of about 90, 000 km². To the Northwest of the fan, the Amapá Megaslide Complex consists of a series of recurrent megaslides (each one as thick as 300-700 m), forming a thick stratigraphic succession related to mass transport processes, across an area of about 80, 000 km². The instability that triggers megaslides is most likely created by pore overpressure as indicated by the seismic attributes of their respective base of slides, characterized by seismic signals of negative polarity.
mass movement; submarine megaslides; gravity tectonics; Amazon Deep-sea Fan; Brazilian equatorial margin
