Australia's tectonic speed leaves cartographers behind

By Pauline Askin SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia, which rides on the world's fastest-moving continental tectonic plate, is heading north so quickly that map co-ordinates are now out by as much as 1.5 meters (4.9 feet), say geoscientists. "There are tweets coming out saying: 'Hey does that mean my neighbors pool is in my property now?' Clearly not!" said Dan Jaksa, Australian Datum Manager at Geoscience Australia, a government body. Australia's continental tectonic plate is moving north at a rate of seven centimeters per year (almost 3 inches a year), Jaksa said, and mapping systems haven't kept pace.