(adj) situated away from the center of the body or from the point of attachment. "the distal end of the tibia" GEOLOGY: relating to or denoting the outer part of an area affected by geological activity. "the distal zone"
Forests are falling to many things—drought, fire, sudden oak death, gypsy moths, pine and engraver beetles, rust, and plain old felling for farms and subdivisions. But there’s always the same distal cause
kind of like distant? not entirely sure