Taylor Swift's Seattle Concert Caused Seismic Activity Equivalent of 2.3 Magnitude Earthquake

Taylor Swift is shaking it off the charts. One of the pop superstar's recent The Eras Tour performances at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, triggered seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, according to local seismologists. 

The earth-rattling event -- dubbed "Swift Quake" -- was not classified as an actual earthquake, but did record a maximum ground acceleration of about 0.011 meters per second squared, Western Washington University geology professor Jackie Caplan-Auerbach told The New York Times. The occurrence is being compared to 2011's "Beast Quake" in the same stadium, which was triggered by the NFL's Seattle Seahawks fans after a touchdown by Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch. 

Caplan-Auerbach first looked into the data surrounding Swift's shows on July 22 and 23 after noticing chatter in a social media group she monitors about Pacific Northwest earthquakes.

"I grabbed 10 hours of data, from when doors opened to well after I thought the audience had gone home, and I just plotted them out to see how did the ground shake," she told Seattle's King 5 News.

"I don’t really want to get into a snickering match between Seahawks fans and Swifties, but I will say Swifties have it in the bag,” she said. "This was much bigger than the Beast Quake in terms of the raw amplitude of shaking, and it went on for a whole lot longer, of course." 

In an interview with CNN, Caplan-Auerbach noted that the discrepancy between the two instances is primarily due to the nature of a sporting event versus a concert. 

"The shaking was twice as strong as 'Beast Quake.' It absolutely doubled it," she shared. 

"The primary difference is the duration of shaking," she continued. "Cheering after a touchdown lasts for a couple seconds, but eventually it dies down. It’s much more random than a concert. For Taylor Swift, I collected about 10 hours of data where rhythm controlled the behavior. The music, the speakers, the beat. All that energy can drive into the ground and shake it."

Additionally, on Twitter, she noted that Swift's sound system would have also contributed to the data. 

"It’s certainly the biggest concert we’ve had in a while," Mouse Reusch, a seismologist at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which monitors earthquake activity in the Pacific Northwest, told NYT.  "We’re talking about 70,000 people and all the music and paraphernalia associated with the concert."

She added that she was encouraged by the public attention the new data was receiving.

"Maybe there’s some young Swifties out there that will some day become seismologists or earth scientists." she added. "That would be a real happy ending.”

Caplan-Auerbach joked that she's keeping an eye on Beyoncé's upcoming Lumen Field show slated for Sept. 14. 

"I want to see if I can write a proposal to get tickets to the Beyoncé concert at the same venue, to compare to Taylor Swift," she tweeted. "For science."

Swift's The Eras Tour will wrap its United States leg with six upcoming shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, beginning Aug. 3. Then, she'll kick off her international dates with performances in Mexico City, Mexico, later that month. 

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