ARTICLE I NFO Cratons stabilized in the Archean because their mantle roots remained strong despite temperatures in the convecting mantle and amounts of radiogenic elements in the crust and in the lithospheric mantle that were larger than today. Thermal evolutionary models are developed using constraints from heat flow and heat production data in Archean provinces. The large time-scale of diffusive heat transport implies that the lithospheric mantle can remain thermally decoupled from the crust for as long as 1 Gyr. Heat production in the lithospheric mantle is a key variable in determining thermal conditions that permit stabilization of the crust and the preservation of a thick cratonic mantle root. Archean provinces are currently characterized by low heat flow, with an average of 41 mW m −2 less than the