Australia is slowly moving in the northeast direction at a rate of about 7 centimeters each year. While this movement is too small for humans to notice in our daily lives, it has important implications for the science of measuring Earth's shape and size, known as geodesy. Scientists who study the Earth’s surface must regularly update the coordinates of locations in Australia to account for this gradual shift. This movement is caused by the movement of tectonic plates, which are massive sections of Earth’s crust that float on the semi-fluid layer beneath them. Australia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, which is slowly shifting due to forces deep within the Earth. These forces are the result of the planet's internal heat and the movement of molten rock, which cause the plates to collide, separate, or slide past one another. Over hundreds of millions of years, the slow northeastward drift of Australia could play a role in the formation of a new supercontinent. Supercontinents are massive landmasses that form when multiple continents collide and merge. The last supercontinent, Pangaea, existed around 300 million years ago. Scientists believe that the movement of tectonic plates will eventually bring together several of Earth's current continents, possibly including Australia, into a new supercontinent in the distant future. While the movement of Australia may seem minor on a human timescale, it is a powerful reminder of the dynamic nature of our planet. The Earth is constantly changing, and the slow but steady movement of continents is just one of many processes that shape the world we live in.