Continued data acquisition from the Mississippi delta-front slopes has allowed more detailed evaluation of mudslide morphology. Subsidence source bowl geometry appears consistent with a retrogression model, suggesting that they enlarge and develop upslope by a process of strain remodling following initial failure. Transport chutes have characteristics that suggest plug flow, and this is evaluated using a model developed for subaerial debris flows. Undrained loading in the downslope depositional zones provides a mechanism to explain lobe progradation. A development sequence for mudslide evolution and elongation is outlined, consisting of three major stages: initial failure, retrogression and progradation, and loading and downslope propagation. The main implications for off hore engineering are that design criteria should acknowledge the site-specific characteristics of mudslides.

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