Geology professor Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, who works at Western Washington University, took measurements from both concert nights, which are almost identical.
The “Swift quake”, as the event has come to be known in the US media, has been compared to the “Beast quake” from 2011. Then the spectators at an American football game with the Seattle Seahawks erupted into roars of joy after an impressive touchdown by the player Marshawn “Beast Fashion” Lynch.
The magnitude difference between the two events was 0.3 — which may sound small, but Caplan-Auerbach notes that the Swift fans beat the Seahawks fans by a large margin.
— The big difference is the length of the tremors. The celebration after a touchdown lasts a few seconds, but then dies down. It is much more random than during a concert, she says, and explains that the music and the fans can give several hours of readings on the meters.