Rocks in Earth's crust are formed, modified, and destroyed in response to myriad interactions between the solid Earth (tectonics, geodynamics), the fluid Earth (ocean-atmosphere, cryosphere), and the living Earth (evolution, biochemistry). As such, the geological record is an integrator of geological, biological, and climatological processes and their histories. Here we review contrasting perceptions of the processes that govern the formation and destruction of the geological record, beginning with the relationship between macroevolutionary patterns in the fossil and sedimentary rock records and culminating with contrasting models of rock cycling. Using the approach of macrostratigraphy, we present an integrated summary of the quantity-age properties of rocks in continental and oceanic crust. The predominant process signal in the rock quantity-age distribution in continental crust is one of episodic growth, whereas in oceanic crust it is one of continual destruction. Relatively abrupt shifts in the dominant locus of sediment deposition, from fast-cycling oceanic crust to long-term continental reservoirs, and attendant expansions and contractions in the area of crust that is emergent, are correlated in timing and magnitude with shifts in the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere and major macroevolutionary transitions in the biosphere. The most recent of possibly two such first-ordertransitions occurred at the start of the Phanerozoic and is marked by a prominent preserved geomorphic surface known as the Great Unconformity. ▪ Macrostratigraphy uses the bulk characteristics of the rock record to probe the evolution of the Earth system. ▪ Quantifying the creation and destruction of rock units can illuminate the long-term evolution of continents and the life that inhabits them.

中文翻译：

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宏观地层学：洞察地球生命系统的循环和长期演化


地壳中的岩石是由于固体地球（构造、地球动力学）、流体地球（海洋大气、冰冻圈）和生命地球（进化、生物化学）之间的无数相互作用而形成、改变和破坏的。因此，地质记录是地质、生物和气候过程及其历史的综合体。在这里，我们回顾了对控制地质记录的形成和破坏的过程的不同看法，从化石和沉积岩记录中的宏观进化模式之间的关系开始，最后以岩石循环的对比模型结束。利用宏观地层学的方法，我们对大陆和海洋地壳中岩石的数量-年龄特性进行了综合总结。大陆地壳岩石数量-年龄分布的主要过程信号是间歇生长过程信号之一，而在大洋地壳中则是连续破坏过程信号之一。沉积物沉积的主要地点从快速循环的洋壳到长期的大陆储层的相对突然的转变，以及随之而来的地壳出现区域的膨胀和收缩，在时间和幅度上与沉积物浓度的变化相关。大气中的氧气和生物圈中的主要宏观进化转变。最近的两次此类一级转变发生在显生宙初期，其标志是一个突出的保存完好的地貌表面，称为大不整合面。 ▪ 宏观地层学利用岩石记录的整体特征来探测地球系统的演化。 ▪ 量化岩石单元的形成和破坏可以阐明大陆及其栖息的生命的长期演化。