China University of Petroleum（Beijing），Beijing100083
Palaeogeography is a science to study the physical geographical characteristics and their evolution in the geological history and human history. Palaeogeography of China mainly originates from the stratigraphy， historical geology， tectonics， palaeontology， sedimentary petrology， physical geography， Quaternary geology， human historical geography， etc〖DK〗. As a result， some branch subjects， such as stratigraphic palaeogeography， tectonopalaeogeography， biopalaeogeography， lithofacies palaeogeography or sedimentary palaeogeography， physical geographic palaeogeography， Quaternary palaeogeography， human historical palaeogeography,etc〖DK〗.〖KG-*5〗， have all come into being. There are three main characteristics about palaeogeography of China. Firstly， all the branch subjects have been developing， ie〖DK〗.〖KG-*5〗， all the branch subjects have come to a mature period， and shown a good situation of a hundred flowers blossom. Secondly， one of these branch subjects is very distinguished from other branch subjects for its significant achievements， ie〖DK〗.〖KG-*5〗， lithofacies palaeogeography has reached a quantitative stage， and has developed into the quantitative palaeogeography， and has already been in the leading position among all the branch subjects. Thirdly， palaeogeography is a guide to mineral resources exploration， ie〖DK〗.〖KG-*5〗， palaeogeography of China， especially the lithofacies palaeogeography and quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography have actively and effectively worked for the prediction and exploration of all kinds of mineral resources， especially for the petroleum resources， and have made great contribution to them. This is the important reason why palaeogeography of China has grown and flourished. Palaeogeography of China has two bright spots， namely as the academic conference of palaeogeography and the Journal of Palaeogeography. The academic conference of palaeogeography has been held for ten times， and is more and more successful than ever. The Journal of Palaeogeography has been started publication for ten years， and have been one of the advanced journals of science and technology in China. This coexistance of “one conference and one journal” has greatly improved the development and innovation of palaeogeography of China.
palaeogeography， branch subjects of palaeogeography， quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography， guide to mineral resources exploration， academic conference of palaeogeography， Journal of Palaeogeography
Received: 10 July 2008
Published: 01 February 2009
About author: Feng Zengzhao， born in 1926， graduated from the Department of Geology of Tsinghua University in 1952. Now， he is a professor of China University of Petroleum（Beijing）， and is engaged in sedimentology and palaeogeography.
Cite this article:
FENG Zeng-Zhao. Definition， content， characteristics and bright spots of palaeogeography of China[J]. JOURNAL OF PALAEOGEOGRAPHY, 2009, 11(1): 1-11.
FENG Zeng-Zhao. Definition， content， characteristics and bright spots of palaeogeography of China[J]. JOPC, 2009, 11(1): 1-11.
