Abstract
The Archean sediments have nearly the same concentration of organic carbon as in the Phanerozoic sediments in spite of the poor organic production by Archean biota. This contradiction can be explained by the low rate of sedimentation in Archean time. The duration required for total influx of each element to the sea through the geologic history can be obtained by dividing the total influx by the annual supply of each element at the present time. The calculated values are much smaller than the history of the sea. This contradiction is also explained by the increase in the rate of sedimentation through the geologic history.
