The history of  palaeogeography is over 200 years,and its origin and development are closely related with the development of  stratigraphy  and  sedimentology  New palaeogeographic theory and technical progress play very important roles in exploration and development of  sedimentary mineral resourcesDuring the development of sedimentology, the new fields of petroleum exploration  have been found in special sedimentary facies, such as fluvial, delta, slump  turbidite fan ,gravity flow deposit and carbonate buildups A lot of results of the Chinese palaeogeographic researches have been obtained and play important roles in Chinese  petroleum exploration and development Great petroleum resources have been found in different geologic strata and regions in China The practices of Chinese petroleum exploration show that the  different sedimentary environments  control the basic condition of petroleum formation  and oilgas occurrence in ChinaThe development and distribution of  lithologic and stratigraphic  traps are controlled by the changes of the palaeogeographic conditions The 13%, 55.3% and 12.6%  of  Chinese total petroleum geological reserves respectively exist in fluvial, delta and  subaqueous fan  sandbodiesThe paper also discusses the theories, methods,technologies for the future study of Chinese palaeogeography,and  important science problems in palaeogeography we will meet in the future Lastly,it points out that the multiinformation,multisize,multidimension and digital study of sedimentary palaeogeography will play important roles in the future exploration and development and comprehensive exploitation of sedimentary mineral resources.