BASEMENT AND SEDIMENTARY RECYCLING AND CONTINENTAL EVOLUTION

The present day cumulative distribution of areas of continental basement age provinces follows an exponential function. A similar distribution is displayed by the reserves of their associated economic deposits and by the thickness and areal distribution data for the overlying sediments. This exponential pattern, similar to isotope decay systematics, is a result of recycling (s.l.). Each theoretically possible growth model must be complemented by an appropriate average recycling constat in order to generate the observed present day distribution. Computer simulation of the system has been carried out and the results are presented here. -from Authors