The reconstruction of the physical geography of past geologic ages. A palaeogeographical map would normally show the palaeolatitude of the area under discussion together with the location of inferred shorelines, drainage areas, continental shelves and depositional environments. At the present time the base map would normally be a reconstruction based on palaeomagnetic data (see palaeomagnetism), although many maps in earlier publications used the present geographical positions of the continents as a foundation. With the advent of balanced sections in structural geology, many palaeogeographical maps are now being produced that take account of the physical shortening involved and attempt to restore areas to their ‘depositional’ condition.