How are the movements of tectonic plates measured?

Currently, the best way to measure the movement of the plates is from Space- the GPS system. Although consumer systems have a deliberately inbuilt fuzziness, the military and other 'official' users can use much more precise locations. read more

There are several independent ways that we can measure the rates at which tectonic plates move. If we date the rocks in the sea floor using radiometric dating we find that ocean-floor rocks near the ocean ridges are young and increase in age as we get farther from the ridges. read more

Geodesy, the science of measuring the Earth's shape and positions on it, lets us measure plate motions directly using GPS, the Global Positioning System. This network of satellites is more stable than the Earth's surface, so when a whole continent moves somewhere at a few centimeters per year, GPS can tell. read more