In deep-water settings, if a sharp-

In deep-water settings, if a sharp-based bed inwhich a planar-laminated interval (T,) passes up intoa rippled interval CT,), it is a common practice tointerpret such traction features as a product of decelerating turbulent flow dropping sediment from suspension onto a well defined sediment bed and thentransporting sediment as bed load under the overlying flowing suspension. Under this scenario, thesettled sediment from a turbidity current will preserve its original depositional features (e.g., normalgrading) only if the sediment is halted from anyfurther movement; however, if the settled sediment issubjected to further transport as bed load, it will notonly lose its original depositional features of turbidity currents (e.g., normal grading) but also will develop new (i.e., reworked) depositional features thatwill be analogous to rippled bedding of bottomcurrents. This is because traction structures causedby bed-load transport are diagnostic of bottom-current deposits as well (Hollister, 1967; Shanmugam etal., 1993). In such cases, it is difficult to recognizefrom the depositional record whether sands in aparallel-laminated or ripple-laminated interval wereoriginally transported as suspended load of a turbidity current or as bed load of a bottom current.Therefore, not all bed-load deposits can be interpreted routinely as turbidite beds; associated normalgrading is the key in establishing a turbidity-currentorigin. However, climbing ripples may be used as acriterion for turbidity-current deposition (Sanders,1963, 1965). This is because when sands fall out ofsuspension while the turbidity current is movingwithin the ripple bedform range, climbing ripples areproduced. Such ripples could be distinguished fromthe tractionally formed ripples by bottom currents.