Book excerpt: This publication reflects a growing appreciation of the extent to which turbidite depositional system development is fundamentally affected by basin-floor topography. In the many turbidite and turbidite hydrocarbon reservoirs, depositional patterns have been moderately to strongly confined by pre-existing slopes. This volume examines aspects of sediment dispersal and accumulation in deep-water systems where sea-floor topography has exerted a decisive control on deposition, and explores the associated controls on hydrocarbon reservoir architecture and heterogeneity.