Despite major advances in our understanding of the interactions between bottom currents and sedimentary deposits over the last forty years, few studies have focused on the nature of fine particles in contourite depositional systems (CDS). XRD analyses of marine sediments can be used to improve our understanding of fine-grained sediment sources and settling processes. This work presents a detailed sedimentological study of sediment cores collected over the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz as part of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339 and the 2001 CADISAR cruise. We performed high-resolution clay mineral analyses to reconstruct the pathways of fine-grained particles from their sources to their deposition along the contourite depositional system of the Gulf of Cadiz (source-to-sink approach). The clay mineral associations reflect the major contribution of the Guadalquivir River and North African rivers/dusts to fine particles settling over the middle slope. Our