Textural grading in deformed mudstones indicates they were emplaced as thin turbidites. Composite diamictite successions, consequently, can be identified as the result of alternating debrite and turbidite deposition. Interbedded massive and poorly stratified diamictites, massive and graded sandstones with massive and weakly laminated siltstones is a facies association that records deposition by sediment gravity flow. The scale of downslope movement is uncertain, and therefore the environment of deposition. Protracted downslope motion results in the generation of mature well-sorted graded sandstones, but sandstones here are compositionally immature and poorly sorted.
Diatoms are very rare and poorly preserved, and siltstone clasts are a source of reworked diatoms.
A setting is indicated close to a source of poorly sorted debris. The biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy of Site 1103 presented problems. Age diagnostic biostratigraphic material is sparse in the poorly-recovered upper part, and at least partly reworked in the lower part. Diatom valves were often fragmented beyond identification, yet these fragments could be abundant in the material recovered. Below, identifiable diatoms were more sparse.