The seemingly silent Australian continent is gradually moving northward at a rate of approximately 7cm (2.8 inches) per year, a rate that is widely cited as being comparable to the average speed at which human fingernails grow. Hence, scientists have described Australia as the fastest-moving continent on Earth, stating that it is a direct consequence of the continent sitting on one of the Earth’s fastest-moving tectonic plates, the Indo-Australian plate.

It may seem that the northward movement of Australia would not have much impact on human civilisation. However, scientists believe that it would certainly have significant impacts on technology, geology, climate, biodiversity, Australian economy, infrastructure and geopolitics in the long term. In fact, Australia is on a collision course with Asia and is projected to collide millions of years from now.

Dr Zheng-Xiang Li, the noted Geoscientist and a Professor at Curtin University in Australia, has stressed: “Whether we like it or not, the Australian continent is going to collide with Asia.” He added: “The Earth is a living thing; it is always evolving. We believe that the Earth evolves in a cyclic pattern, where the continents move apart and now are moving back together. When the continents come together, the Earth’s crust will form a sort of ‘ring of fire’ around the new supercontinent.“

Dr Li has explained that Australia began its northward journey about 80 million years ago after it separated from Antarctica and the process still continues as a part of the Indo-Australian Plate. This drift is driven by plate tectonics and is happening at a rate of about 7cm per year. Scientists are of the opinion that Australia would eventually collide with Asia in about 200-300 million years, potentially creating a new supercontinent. It would have an impact not only on the environment and climate, but also on ecosystems of both continents.

Australia has a number of unique animals, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and platypuses, found nowhere else. Their long isolation allows these species to evolve in unique ways. However, Australia’s gradual northward movement would affect these animals by bringing them into contact with Asian ecosystems, leading to potential competition for resources and the introduction of new species, predators and invasive plants. Over millions of years, this convergence could result in an extinction crisis for highly specialised Australian wildlife, the formation of entirely new ecosystems and potential adaptation for some species. However, scientists are sceptical about how well the Australian animals would adapt to their new environment.

According to scientists, the northward movement of Australia is already having subtle but tangible effects on human life, primarily impacting modern technology and requiring practical adjustments to human systems. The geological shifts themselves are too slow to be felt day-to-day. However, their cumulative effect over time is significant for precise technologies.

In 2016, scientists observed that Australia’s GPS coordinates were off by about 1.5mt (4.9ft) because of the movement of its tectonic plate that necessitated an adjustment to its national coordinate system. This shift, driven by the continent drifting northward at about 7cm per year, created inaccuracies for navigation systems, impacting industries that rely on precise location data. The development prompted Australia to officially update its government positioning system in 2017 to the Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 (GDA2020) in an attempt to align it with global satellite navigation systems. Scientists have opined that the northward movement of the world’s sixth-largest country and the largest in Oceania requires regular updates to its mapping, as well as navigation systems, for maintaining accuracy.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das