Seahawks 'Beast Quake' or Taylor Swift Concert? Seismic Activity Rankings

Taylor Swift's concerts at Lumen Field last weekend reportedly caused seismic activity higher than that of former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch's iconic "Beast Quake" run.

Former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has some new competition when it comes to rocking the venue at Lumen Field.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift, arguably the most popular musician in the world right now, came to Seattle over the weekend as part of her "Eras" tour. Like they do at Seahawks games, Seattle came ready to cheer and get loud when needed.

And according to CNN, Swift and her fans caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3-magnitude earthquake during her Saturday concert. For comparison, Lynch's iconic "Beast Quake" run in January of 2011 registered a 2.0 on the same scale. Despite the apparently small difference in peak seismic activity on the scale, the numbers of the shaking caused by Swift's concert are double that of Lynch's run.

“The primary difference is the duration of shaking,” said Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and geology professor at Western Washington University, to CNN. “Cheering after a touchdown lasts for a couple seconds, but eventually it dies down. It’s much more random than a concert. For Taylor Swift, I collected about 10 hours of data where rhythm controlled the behavior. The music, the speakers, the beat. All that energy can drive into the ground and shake it.”

Lynch's iconic run took place in a Seahawks playoff game against the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 8, 2011. Seattle was feeling the pressure as New Orleans mounted a fourth-quarter comeback, until Lynch broke nine tackles on his way to a 67-yard touchdown to put the Seahawks up by two scores. Lynch's electric run - which was named the second-best play of the decade by the NFL a few years back - sent the Seahawks faithful into a frenzy, enough for seismic scales to pick up activity.

Swift's concert stands as the loudest on record in Seattle, but it isn't the first to beat the "Beast Quake." Caplan-Auerbach told the Seattle Times that The Weeknd's concert in August was also louder than Lynch's run, but not as loud as Swift's recent concert.

Whether it's for its beloved Seahawks or world-renowned musicians, the Seattle faithful certainly knows how to get loud, very loud, when needed.

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You can find Jonathan Alfano on Twitter @JonAlfano_News

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