Geochronologically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a fashion that is concerned with the timing of Earth's geological layers
2. According to the principles of determining the age and sequence of rock layers on Earth
3. In a manner that involves assessing the chronological order of Earth's geological strata

Etymology: "Geochronologically" is an adverb built in the simplest way: the adjective "geochronological" with the suffix "-ly" added to turn it into a manner word. The adjective itself is a compound of "geo-", from Greek "gē", meaning "earth", and "chronological", which goes back to Greek "chronos", meaning "time," with the sense of arranging events in the order they occurred. Put together, the base describes ordering events in Earth's history, and this adverb simply says an action is carried out in that way. The word is a technical formation, so there is no older everyday sense to trace. Its meaning stays close to its parts: something done geochronologically is done with the aim of dating rocks and placing geological layers in time.