A turbidite is the geologic deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean.
Turbidites are deposited in the deep ocean troughs below the continental shelf, or similar structures in deep lakes, by underwater avalanches which slide down the steep slopes of the continental shelf edge. When the material comes to rest in the ocean trough, it is the sand and other coarse material which settles first followed by mud and eventually the very fine particulate matter. It is this sequence of deposition that creates the Bouma sequences that characterize these rocks.
Turbidite sequence. Carboniferous Ross Sandstone Formation (Namurian), County Clare, Western Ireland (USGS image)
Complete Bouma sequence in Devonian Sandstone (Becke-Oese Quarry, Germany)
Gorgoglione Flysch, Miocene, South Italy
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus, chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by physical weathering. Geologists use the term clastic to refer to sedimentary rocks and particles in sediment transport, whether in suspension or as bed load, and in sediment deposits.
Breccia. Notice the angular nature of the large clasts