Figure 1.

A selection of recent continental growth models (curves 1–4), which suggest that 60–80% of the present volume of continental crust was established by 3 Ga. These curves are in stark contrast with the cumulative distribution of crust formation ages in the crust preserved today (curves 5 and 6). The gap between curves 1–4 and curves 5–6 implies the destruction of large amounts of ancient continental crust (schematized by the dashed vertical arrows). The rates at which continental crust was destroyed and replaced by younger crust are explored in this contribution. References to curves: (1) Dhuime et al. [2], (2) Dhuime et al. [8], (3) Campbell [12], (4) Pujol et al. [13], (5) Condie & Aster [14], (6) Dhuime et al. [8].