STRATIFIED TALUS DEPOSITS NEAR MANCHE-DEPEE (GASPE PENINSULA, QUEBEC)

Stratified talus deposits presently form in isolated pockets of the forest zone of Gaspe Peninsula. Repeated visits in every season between June 1987 and July 1989 have allowed to identify in detail the processes and mechanisms responsible for their bedding. Only the lower part of the talus cones shows stratification. Four types of bedding were found to overlie: (1) diamictic beds formed by mudflows during thaws; (2) coarse openwork beds formed by avalanches and debris slides; (3) cross-bedded layers of sand derived from niveo-eolian covers accumulated by moderate winds; and finally (4) layers of fine shale flakes deposited on snow during strong blizzards. There is considerable facies change away from the axis of the debris cones, and there is no strict seasonality in the bedding. Sedimentaion rates are very high, locally more than 50 cm within two years.