There is a significant difference between the average sedimentation rate of a lengthy stratigraphic section spanning many millions of years, and the rate that can be calculated from any short segment within such a section, such segments typically yielding rates several orders of magnitude more rapid than the overall rate. Stratigraphic successions contain numerous surfaces of nondeposition and erosion representing time spans from minutes to many millions of years, which collectively may account for as much as 90% of the total elapsed time that the succession represents. The stratigraphic record is constructed by a range of geological processes that operate over all time scales from seconds to billions of years, and at rates that vary by ten orders of magnitude. The generation of the stratigraphic record can be conceptualized in the form of a mechanical device, which we term the “Stratigraphy Machine.”

中文翻译：

---

地层机

跨越数百万年的漫长地层段的平均沉降速率与可以从该段内的任何短段计算的速率之间存在显着差异，这些段的速率通常比整体率。地层序列包含许多代表时间跨度从几分钟到数百万年的非沉积和侵蚀表面，这些时间总共可能占该序列所代表的总经过时间的 90%。地层记录是由一系列地质过程构成的，这些过程在从几秒到数十亿年的所有时间尺度上运行，并且以十个数量级的速度变化。