Taylor Swift fans got the ground moving, literally and caused readings of seismic activity during her shows for her popular Eras Tour in Edinburgh last weekend.
Seismologists with the British Geological Study reported that the pop superstar’s three nights in Scotland — which smashed records at Murrayfield Stadium — sparked “earthquake readings” that were spotted up to 6km away from the concerts.
BGS also found that the seismic activity, which was picked up at monitoring stations around the city, appeared especially noticeable when Swift played three songs: …Ready For It?, Cruel Summer and Champagne Problems.
The singer’s June 7 show led to the “most energetic” night, according to BGS’ reading of the maximum amplitude of motion (or the distance the ground moves). Dancing to …Ready For It? saw fans transmitting about 80 kW of power (or between 10 and 16 car batteries).
“Whilst the events were detected by sensitive scientific instruments designed to identify even the most minute seismic activity many kilometres away, the vibrations generated by the concert were unlikely to have been felt by anyone other that those in the immediate vicinity,” BGS’ report read.
Swift’s shows have reportedly sparked seismic activity at other venues on the Eras tour, which is set to wrap up in December.
Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, flagged a “Swift Quake” in July due to seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake caused by two shows at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
Her shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, last year also registered earthquake-like signals, according to researchers at the California Institute of Technology, with the most energy released coming from her performances of Shake It Off.