Anna, your comment in the other thread sent me back here. I ran 'ana-' through Onelook, and the first def. in Wordsmyth could make sense in geology:
Syllables: an-a--

Part of Speech prefix
Definition 1. up or upward.
Example anabatic.
Definition 2. back or backward.
Example anachronism ; anapest.
Definition 3. again.
Example anabiosis.
Definition 4. similar to.
Example analogous.