stationary state is achieved at a finite time independent of resistivity for sufficiently high resolution. In fact, even if the growth is exponential, we can estimate that the width of the current sheets reaches the meter-scale in a few tens Alfvén crossing times $\tau_{\mathcal{A}}$. A typical value is $\tau_{\mathcal{A}} = 40\, s$, so that this initial time is not only finite, but also short compared with an active region timescale. Once the steady state has been reached this phenomenon is no longer important. The nonlinear regime is in fact characterized by the presence of numerous current sheets, so that while some of them are being dissipated others are being formed, and a [*statistical*]{} steady state is maintained.

It therefore seems that the Parker field-line tangling scenario of coronal heating may be described as a particular instance of magnetically dominated MHD turbulence. Numerous analytical and numerical models of this process have been presented in the past, each discussing in some detail aspects of the general problem as presented above [@park72; @park88; @HP92; @vb86; @ber91; @StUch81; @GomFF92; @mik89; @hen96; @long94; @dmi99; @ein96; @georg98; @dmi98; @ein99].

The numerical simulations presented here bring closure to the [*original*]{} question as posed in cartesian geometry by 