Taylor Swift’s Seattle concerts caused bigger earthquake than 2011 ‘Beast Quake’

While the Pacific Northwest is prone to natural earthquakes, it appears Taylor Swift’s two performances at Lumen Field in Seattle last weekend led to some human-caused seismic activity.

Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor with Western Washington University in Bellingham, shared on Wednesday an image on social media showing the noise levels of the Swift concert compared to those recorded during another human-caused earthquake 12 years before.

I guess I should show the data. Swifties > Seahawks fans.

(except data from the concert may not be caused by the fans–it may be the sound system, so not really a fair comparison). pic.twitter.com/szwowOYQFi

— Jackie Caplan-Auerbach (@geophysichick) July 27, 2023

In 2011, a 20-30 second-long earthquake was recorded at the same stadium when Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown during an NFL playoff game. The event has since been dubbed the “Beast Quake.”

But Swifties have given Lynch’s feat a run for its money. Caplan-Auerbach says the noise levels at the 2023 concerts were twice as high as the 2011 football celebration, causing the ground to shake even more.

“What we do know is that at its greatest shaking, Taylor’s version shook the ground twice as much, twice as hard as it did during the original Beast Quake,” she told CityNews.

Swift performed hours-long concerts at the football stadium on July 22 and 23, with over 70,000 people in attendance for both shows.

Seattle that was genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever. Thank you for everything. All the cheering, screaming, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of your lungs. Got to play “No Body No Crime” (aka No body no Haim) live for the first time with my sisters @HAIMtheband!!!!… pic.twitter.com/vDkAM4O93y

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 24, 2023

Caplan-Auerbach says she’s hesitant to assign a magnitude rating to what happened during the concerts but says it was definitely stronger than the 2011 event.

“It’s more the difference that I think is compelling,” she said. “If the Beast Quake was a 2, this was a 2.3.”

While she says the noise caused an earthquake, Caplan-Auerbach points out that is a fairly broad term.

“In the most simple sense, an earthquake is just the shaking of the ground,” she said. “Human activity causes quakes. It causes shaking. Cars driving across the ground shake the ground.”

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Caplan-Auerbach also says there is a seismometer — a device that measures earthquake activity — located near Lumen Field in Seattle, which could play a role in the findings of both events.

“It’s common that we pick up this noise on seismometers all the time. Obviously, it’s unusual to have this loud of a noise or signal. But what’s really unusual is to have a seismometer this close to a stadium,” she explained.

“With all due respect to Seahawks fans and Swifties, if you put a seismometer next to any stadium, you would see comparable stuff.”

Despite the location of the seismometer, the professor says the findings are still worth looking at.

Human-caused earthquakes generate more interest in science, professor says

Now that there has been another notable human-caused earthquake in Seattle, Caplan-Auerbach says there’s interest from those in her field to find out more about them.

“Ever since the Beast Quake we’ve wondered, ‘What is it that we’re actually recording?'” she explained.

The biggest benefit from these incidents, she says, is that it gets more people interested in science.

“The thing that is most exciting about it is the question: ‘What is science?’ … Sometimes we kind of isolate science to sort of a lab and a computer and a Bunsen burner. But science is about asking questions and trying to figure out why,” she explained.

Since her post on social media earlier in the week, Caplan-Auerbach says she’s heard from many concert-goers who are trying to determine if certain songs caused bigger seismic readings.

“I’ve gotten so many emails from people excited to share their experience to contribute to kind of solving this problem,” she said.

With files from Cole Schisler