  The Parker or field line tangling model of coronal heating is studied
comprehensively via long-time high-resolution simulations of the dynamics of a
coronal loop in cartesian geometry within the framework of reduced
magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD). Slow photospheric motions induce a Poynting flux
which saturates by driving an anisotropic turbulent cascade dominated by
magnetic energy. In physical space this corresponds to a magnetic topology
where magnetic field lines are barely entangled, nevertheless current sheets
(corresponding to the original tangential discontinuities hypothesized by
Parker) are continuously formed and dissipated.
  Current sheets are the result of the nonlinear cascade that transfers energy
from the scale of convective motions ($\sim 1,000 km$) down to the dissipative
scales, where it is finally converted to heat and/or particle acceleration.
Current sheets constitute the dissipative structure of the system, and the
associated magnetic reconnection gives rise to impulsive ``bursty'' heating
events at the small scales. This picture is consistent with the slender loops
observed by state-of-the-art (E)UV and X-ray imagers which, although apparently
quiescent, shine bright in these wavelengths with little evidence of entangled
features.
  The different regimes of weak and strong MHD turbulence that develop, and
their influence on coronal heating scalings, are shown to depend on the loop
parameters, and this dependence is quantitatively characterized: weak
turbulence regimes and steeper spectra occur in {\it stronger loop fields} and
lead to {\it larger heating rates} than in weak field regions.
