How is/was continental drift monitored?

Question

I am curious about current technology but I am particularly interested in what techniques were employed prior to the advent of satellite technology.

Answer 1

To my knowledge, it is because of the advancement in satellite technology that were are able to monitor large tectonic plate movements, as in monitor continents moving away or towards each other.

On a smaller scale, if it is a transform plate boundary (also called a strike-slip fault), with the use of man-made or geographic features someone can measured how much the plates have have moved along the fault line. For example, if there was a road that was divided and moved by a transform fault then we'd see that the road is no longer connected in the original way. There are some good figures and pictures in google if you search for "strike slip fault example".