Survivorship as a Geological Filter

Abstract

The geological record represents only a fraction of Earth's actual history.

Every preserved signal has survived a series of destructive processes.

This paper proposes survivorship as a useful framework for understanding why certain geological information remains accessible while other information disappears.

Filter Classes

• Erosion
• Metamorphism
• Tectonic recycling
• Burial
• Volcanism
• Chemical alteration
• Structural disruption
• Time itself

Filter Principle

Earth's geological record is not a complete archive.

It is the surviving archive.

Understanding survivorship may therefore be essential to understanding discovery.

Transition to Resource Systems

If geological survivorship controls information retention, then resource concentration may represent one of the most economically important expressions of survivorship.

The next sequence therefore examines North America's most persistent mineral and hydrocarbon systems.