Taylor Swift's eras tour caused mini earthquake in Los Angeles—study
California is no stranger to earthquakes, but a new study revealed a surprising source of tremors: Taylor Swift fans.
A study by researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) suggests that Swifties generated seismic activity during the Midnights singer’s Los Angeles SoFi Stadium concerts.
The study analyzed seismic waves generated from the Eras Tour concert on August 5, 2023, held at the SoFi Stadium, which hosted approximately 70,000 attendees. Researchers installed strong-motion sensors both inside and outside the stadium, along with seismic monitoring stations located within 9 kilometers of the venue, to capture data before the event.
Measurable vibrations were recorded by the study due to crowd activity—like dancing and jumping—rather than the music itself.
"It turns out jumping is very effective at creating these harmonic signals. The stronger or the more people you have jumping, the more energy is going into [the ground]," Caltech seismologist Gabrielle Tepp told the LA Times.
Tepp's study with her colleagues is titled "Shake to the Beat: Exploring the Seismic Signals and Stadium Response of concerts and Music Fans."
"I would definitely say for the stronger songs, you probably have a lot more people excited, a lot more people jumping around," she continued, adding that the biggest impact recorded was during the song Shake It Off with a magnitude of 0.851.
This is, however, not the first time a "Swift Quake" was recorded as her Seattle concert in July 2023 saw a magnitude of 2.3.
Swift recently wrapped her sole Eras Tour stop in Southeast Asia in Singapore earlier in March. Her concert will resume in May in European countries such as Portugal, England, Poland, and Austria before returning to North America for shows in the United States and Canada.