Taylor Swift's concert in Edinburgh actually made the ground shake!
Taylor Swift has done it again. Her concerts in Edinburgh last weekend resulted in notable seismic activity, as detected by monitoring stations up to 6km away. The most significant tremors were recorded during the performances of Cruel Summer, Ready For It?, and champagne problems. The Friday night concert, attended by 73,000 fans, was identified as the loudest and most energetic, with ground movement reaching a maximum of 23.4 Newton meters.
Peak seismic activity recorded at 160bpm during Swift's performance
The seismic activity was primarily due to the dancing of Swift's fans, reaching its peak at 160 beats per minute during the performance of Ready For It? The energy generated by fans during this song was approximately 80kW, equivalent to around 6,000 car batteries! Notably, even a four-minute applause for champagne problems caused detectors to register movement.
British Geological Survey recorded concert-induced tremors
The British Geological Survey (BGS), the UK's national earthquake monitoring agency, recorded the seismic activity induced by the concert at two monitoring stations, including one at its office at Heriot Watt University. BGS seismologist Callum Harrison stated, "It's amazing that we've been able to measure the reaction of thousands of concert goers remotely through our data." He added that the opportunity to explore seismic activity created by such a different kind of phenomenon has been "thrilling."
Seismic activity from concert unlikely to impact locals
Experts clarified that the seismic activity generated by Swift's concert was not likely to have been felt by anyone outside the immediate vicinity of the concert. This is consistent with observations from Swift's previous concerts in Seattle and Los Angeles, which also registered similar seismic activity. Notably, the Seattle performance generated activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Her concerts are a part of her ongoing Eras Tour.
