Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Moving 2.8 inches (7 cm) per year, Australia is creeping toward Asia at the speed of growing fingernails—but over millions of years, this adds up to a massive shift.
Scientists predict that Australia will crash into Asia in millions of years, triggering earthquakes, new mountain ranges, and dramatic landscape changes.
As Australia moves northward, seismic activity is increasing, causing more earthquakes and geological shifts along tectonic plate boundaries.
Australia’s past drift into tropical waters created the Great Barrier Reef. As the continent continues moving, new landforms and ocean currents will emerge.
Unique marsupials like koalas and wombats may struggle to compete against Asian predators, leading to possible mass extinctions or forced adaptation.
Australia’s movement has thrown off GPS coordinates by nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters), forcing scientists to recalculate official maps in 2016.
If not corrected, Australia’s drift could disrupt autonomous cars, aviation, and satellite mapping, making navigation dangerously inaccurate.
Scientists believe that all continents will eventually merge again, forming a supercontinent, just as they have in past geological cycles.
Plate tectonics is unstoppable, and while the process is slow, its effects will reshape coastlines, ecosystems, and human infrastructure for millions of years.