Large and fast-moving turbidity currents can carve gulleys and ravines into the ocean floor of continental margins and cause damage to artificial structures such as telecommunication cables on the seafloor. Understanding where turbidity currents flow on the ocean floor can help to decrease the amount of damage to telecommunication cables by avoiding these areas or reinforcing the cables in vulnerable areas.
When turbidity currents interact with regular ocean currents, such as contour currents, they can change their direction. This ultimately shifts submarine canyons and sediment deposition locations. One example of this is located in the western part of the Gulf of Cadiz, where the ocean current leaving the Mediterranean Sea (also known as the Mediterranean outflow water) pushes turbidity currents westward. This has changed the shape of submarine valleys and canyons in the region to also curve in that direction.