LSU Fans Created Two Baton Rouge Earthquakes During Win Over Alabama
Tigers fans know how to rock the house.
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LSU fans have done it again. The excitement in Death Valley over LSU’s overtime win against Alabama was so great, scientists say it momentarily shook the earth.
On Monday, LSU’s College of Science reported that seismographs positioned near Tiger Stadium registered earthquake-level activity during two big moments Saturday: when the Tigers scored a touchdown in overtime and three minutes later, when they scored the game-winning two-point conversion.
The last time LSU football fans registered on the seismograph was in 1988, when the Tigers upset Auburn in a legendary match known as "Earthquake Game.”
Darrell Henry, professor and chair of the geology department at the LSU College of Science, told The Advocate that the intensity of the seismic waves created by Saturday’s game were roughly 10 times that of the background motion indicated on the machine.
"It was a very intense event and one you could definitely pin to the exact time in which LSU scored a touchdown and even better after the two-point," Henry explained. "Not only do you have the event, but it just kept on going and it was because we had the fans streaming onto the field.”
Tiger Stadium earthquakes aren’t just limited to sporting events. In fact, Death Valley is a bit of a hotspot when it comes to pandemonium-induced seismic activity. Fans at a sold-out Garth Brooks concert in May responded so wildly to the crooner’s performance of "Callin' Baton Rouge" that a seismograph in nearby Nicholson Hall registered a small earthquake.
“The Garth Brooks concert when he was singing 'Callin’ Baton Rouge,' that was a very similar response in terms of magnitude, but it was also a much longer response because it probably went on as long as he was singing the song," Henry told The Advocate. "It was different in a sense, but what’s amazing is that you have these sorts of responses that we’ll be able to pin down to exactly what time.”
Amazing indeed!
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