Abstract: Periplatform carbonates of flat-topped, steep-sided carbonate platforms are well known to record the varying environmental conditions that prevail on the platform top. The depositional record of slope sediments on carbonate ramps sensu lato is less understood. This study describes and interprets the textural and compositional signatures of Pliocene periplatform sediments from the core CLINO, located on the leeward paleoslope of the Great Bahama Bank (i.e., the present-day margin). During the Pliocene, the morphology of the Great Bahama Bank evolved from a distally steepened ramp into a steep-sided, flat-topped platform. Hence, the Pliocene deposits offer an important opportunity to compare slope sediments of the different morphology types. Compositional analyses reveal that the upper Pliocene periplatform sediments, deposited on the slope of a steep-sided platform, clearly record the repetitive submergence and subaerial exposure of the platform top. Highstand deposits are characterized by a predominance of fine-grained sedimentary matrix exported from the platform interior (mainly aragonite needles). The lowstand deposits, in contrast, typically consist of coarse-grained skeletal material and cortoids, with fine-grained material from the platform interior being rare. The interpretation of sea-level highstand and lowstand deposits is substantiated by palynomorph assemblages that offer a direct proof of the conditions that prevailed on the platform top. Sea-level lowstand assemblages contain high proportions of terrestrial pollen, whereas the highstand assemblages are dominated by dinoflagellate cysts. The selected upper Pliocene section thus represents a straightforward image of highstand shedding. The selected lower Pliocene section was deposited when the platform exhibited a distally steepened ramp morphology and shows a more complex picture. Composition of the sediments is rather uniform and does not reveal the clear cyclic nature seen in the upper Pliocene strata. This difference is partly attributed to the ramp morphology's being less sensitive to sea-level fluctuations, because facies belts are able to migrate upslope and downslope, following the changing sea level. Additionally, however, sea-level fluctuations in the early Pliocene were overlain by an overall sea-level rise that could have obscured the signatures of short-term sea-level drops. Diagenesis of the periplatform sediments was found to be strongly influenced by sea-level-induced compositional changes in the upper Pliocene section. As seen in scanning electron microscopic examinations, the coarse-grained lowstand deposits are diagenetically more mature than the fine-gained highstand intervals. This pattern is thought to reflect the high primary permeability of the coarse-grained lowstand layers. Fine-grained highstand deposits from the upper Pliocene s20ection and the overall fine-grained lower Pliocene sediments, in contrast, appear much less mature. The low initial permeability seems to have restricted fluid flow that could have driven diagenetic alterations.