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Glite Dictionary
palaeogeographic

palaeogeographic

1 9.9
About the shape of the land on Earth long ago
  • adjective
  • /ˌpæl.i.oʊ.dʒəˈɡræf.ɪk/
  • UK
: paleogeográfico
  • Palaeogeographic maps reveal how continents shifted position throughout geological history.

Examples

  • George RJ, Clarke JDA, English PM. 2006. Modern and palaeogeographic trends in the salinisation of the Western Australian wheatbelt. Proceedings of the Australian Earth Sciences Convention 2006; 2-6 July 2006, Melbourne, Australia.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Scientists use palaeogeographic data to reconstruct the climate of the Earth millions of years ago.

  • The study of palaeogeographic changes helps us understand how ancient landforms influenced the evolution of habitats.

Surface Forms

palaeogeographic positive
paleogeographic positive

Morphology

palaeogeographic = geographic (semi-transparent) = palaeo + geograph + ic

The word is built by adding the prefix palaeo- to geographic, but the resulting scientific sense is somewhat specialized.

Etymology

Palaeogeographic comes from palaeo- ('old') and geographic, which has geo- ('earth') and graph ('to write' or 'describe'), like in palaeontology and geography. So it means describing the Earth's land and places as they were in the past.