Although a combination of seafloor observation, outcrop studies, numerical simulations and physical experiments show that turbidity currents are likely 1) to be in a supercritical flow state and 2) to carry high sediment concentrations (being of high-density), very little is known on the morphodynamics of supercritical high-density flows.

This thesis starts with an experimental study of bedforms characteristic of supercritical flows (Chapter 2). In the following chapter 3 the effect of high sediment concentrations on turbidity currents and their deposits are described. Chapter 4 focusses on the processes and deposits of hydraulic jumps, which occures frequently in supercritical flows. The size of supercritical bedform is known to vary widely depending on the flow properties, in chapter 5 the bedform geometry and scale is linked to these flow properties by means of a numerical model. In chapter 6 all the previous results are combined to form a general sedimentological model for supercritical high-density turbidites, which is then compared to Miocene turbidite deposits in Tabernas basin in SE Spain.