Paleobiogeography. The past distribution of plants and animals can give important clues concerning the latitudinal position of the continents as well as their relative positions. Cold-water faunas can aften be distinguished from warm-water faunas, and ancient floras both reflect paleo-temperature and paleo-rainfall. The similarity or dissimilarity of faunas and floras on different continents can be used to estimate their geographic proximity. In addition, the evolutionary history of groups of plants and animals on different continents can reveal when these continents were connected or isolated from each other.

Paleoclimatology. The Earth's climate is primarily a result of the redistribution of the Sun's energy across the surface of the globe. It is warm near the Equator and cool near the Poles. Wetness, or rainfall, also varies systematically from the equator to the pole. It is wet near the equator, dry in the subtropics, wet in the temperate belts and dry near the poles. Certain kinds of rocks form under specific climatic conditions. For example coals occur where it is wet, bauxite occurs where it is warm and wet, evaporites and calcretes occur where it is warm and dry, and tillites occur where it is wet and cool. The ancient distribution of these, and other, rock types can tell us how the global climate has changed through time and how the continents have travelled across climatic belts.

Geologic and Tectonic History. In order to reconstruct the past positions of the continents it is necessary to understand the development of the plate tectonic boundaries that separate continents and bring them back together again. Only by understanding the regional geological and tectonic evolution of an area can you determine the location and timing of rifting, subduction, continental collision and other major plate tectonic events.