Estimating ancient sediment fluxes

Original Phanerozoic sediment flux rates can be approximated by fitting an exponential decay curve to the observed massjage distribution of sediments, then multiplying the ratio of the observed mass to the exponential decay curve mass by the zero-age flux rate predicted by the exponential decay curve. Applied to the massjage distribution of existing Phanerozoic sediments, the reconstruction method indicates that original global sediment flux rates varied cyclically by a factor of up to three. This implies significant changes in the rates of uplift and mountain building and global plate activity.