1 INTRODUCTION Submarine channels are distinctive large-scale sea floor features that funnel globally important volumes of sediment hundreds of kilometres from the shallow continental shelves into the deep sea (Khripounoff et al., 2003; Peakall & Sumner, 2015). These systems generally evolve from V-shaped canyons incised on the continental shelf (Kuenen, 1953; Wynn et al., 2007; Harris & Whiteway, 2011) to U-shaped channels with overbank deposits (Walker & Mutti, 1973; Clark & Pickering, 1996).