The Bourcart-Hérault canyon interfluve in the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean) was the site of very high sedimentation (up to 2.5 m/kyr) around the Last Glacial Maximum, due to the vicinity of major fluvial systems that fed the shelf edge. Shoreface deposits and offshore muds deposited during each glacial/interglacial 100 kyr-cycle, created a repeated motif with highangle and low-angle clinoforms on seismic profiles. New detailed morphological, sedimentological and paleo-environmental data, constrained by 14 C dating, allow us to propose a scenario for the evolution of this critical area between 46 and 15 cal. kyr BP. The major seismic sequence (S5), formed as a forced regression during the overall sea-level fall between MIS-3 and MIS-2, can be sub-divided into several prograding units, which indicate that relative sea-level changes were punctuated by intervals of increased fall or slow-down, or even stillstand. Similarly, the onset of sea-level rise was marked by steps, during which wave-