During August 1987, a SeaMARC II side-scan and sampling survey was conducted across the Peru-Chile forearc from 17/degrees/30'S to 19/degrees/30'S. Side-scan images reveal a complex submarine canyon system. Incised canyons meander across the Arequipa basin; their sinuosity results from erosion and cutbank slumping of the basin sediments. Lenticular packets of strata visible in reprocessed digital single-channel seismic profiles are interpreted to be buried channels. Tributary canyons coalesce into a single canyon at the structural high that deviates from its north-south course to a northeast-southwest course as a result of stream piracy. A dendritic drainage basin forming on the midslope may be the rejuvenation of an abandoned channel. Sediment properties were measured on 42 free-fall cores and 7 piston cores recovered both in and around the submarine canyon. Olive-gray (5Y 3/2) hemipelagic mud is the predominant sediment across the forearc. Most cores exhibit a small degree of bioturbation and thin laminae of sand; the number of sand laminae increases as the distance away from the canyon decreases. Shear strengths, averaged over a 1-m core length, decrease slightly with water depth. Carbonate content in all samples from this area is negligible with the exception of one piston core recovered from the uppermore » reaches of the canyon, the bottom of which is composed of gravel- and sand-size shell fragments. Bulk mineralogy, determined from semiquantitative analysis of x-ray diffraction patterns, shows a decrease in relative feldspar percent and an increase in total clay content with increasing water depth. Preliminary analysis of core tops shows a mean grain size in the medium to very fine silt class, with increasing grain size toward the canyon. Smear slide counts generally show a surprisingly low abundance of volcanic glass and biogenic material, particularly diatoms.« less