Abstract--The stratigraphic and sedimentological patterns seen in
continental rift basins appear to follow rules based on the relationship
between the basin's growth through time and the resulting change in the
area of the depositional surface as the basin fills. Using relatively simple
models based on these rules we can separate the real tectonic, climatic,
and sedimentological "events" from the unfolding of the necessary consequences
of the filling of a trough.