A possible mechanism for continental crust formation, slab-melting and subsequent melt-mantle interaction, was examined by geochemical formulation of partial melting and melt-solid reactions. The modeling results suggest that such a process can reasonably explain the major and trace element compositions of the andesitic bulk continental crust. However, the Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions of melting residues in the subducting slab, which may have foundered and been stored in the deep mantle, do not match those of any proposed geochemical reservoir. This may lead to the conclusion that the slab melting did not play the major role in the continental crust formation during the Archean. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union