Australia Is The Fastest-Moving Continent On Earth, Drifting 7 Centimetres North Each Year

Did you know that Australia is the fastest-moving continent on Earth? It’s true! Australia is actually sitting on top of a tectonic plate that’s drifting at a rate of about 7 centimeters (just under 3 inches) each year. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly the same rate at which your hair and fingernails grow.

In comparison, the rest of Earth’s land masses move at an average rate of about 1.5 centimeters (0.6 inches) a year, according to NOAA. So, Australia is definitely ahead of the game as it continues its northward drift.

Technically speaking, we’re talking about the Indo-Australian plate, which includes mainland Australia, the island of Tasmania, parts of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean basin. And get this – in a few tens of millions of years, the Indo-Australian plate could potentially collide with the Eurasian plate in Southeast Asia and China, forming a new continental configuration known as “Austrasia.”

This movement isn’t anything new. Up until 200 million years ago, Australia was actually connected to Gondwana, a massive supercontinent that dominated the Southern Hemisphere. The plates were all squished together back then. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle that’s constantly shifting and changing.

Earth’s continents are always in a state of slow flux. We may not feel it in our daily lives, but the planet’s surface is always moving. Tectonic plates are constantly shifting – some are colliding, while others are moving apart. It’s like a cracked road on a slow-moving conveyor belt.

This movement can actually cause problems for our technology. Geolocation tools, like GPS, operate based on fixed coordinate systems. But as the landmasses slowly shift, it can create a mismatch between where maps think locations are and where they actually are.

In fact, Australia had to update its coordinates in 2017 because it had moved 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) out of sync with the tectonic plate over 23 years. So, in a way, Australia officially moved 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) northeast.

So, next time you look at a map, remember that Earth is always on the move – even if we can’t see it happening in real-time. It’s a fascinating reminder of the dynamic and ever-changing nature of our planet.