A.J. Perez, USA TODAY — Hirving Lozano scoring the lone goal in Mexico's 1-0 victory over reigning World Cup champion Germany appears to have led to an artificial earthquake in Mexico City on Sunday.
Two monitoring stations in Mexico City picked up the temblor the same time Lozano scored 35 minutes into the match. Seismologists in Chile also said that their instruments detected an artificial temblor at the same time.
John E. Vidale director of Southern California Earthquake Center, told USA TODAY Sports that at most such fan-induced earthquakes would generate at most a 2 on the Richter Scale, which typically would go unnoticed by the public if it were a typical quake. By comparison the 1985 earthquake that killed thousands in and around Mexico City was an 8.0.
The USGS noted two quakes in Mexico over the last 24 hours that were 4.1 or greater and the agency didn't detect the World Cup earth shaking.
Induced seismic activity has been measured from everything from nuclear testing to fracking, although this wouldn't be the first time sports fans literally have generated enough force to be seen on a seismograph.
Seismologists in Seattle said the celebrations there after the Seahawks defeated the New Orleans Saints during a playoff game in January 2014 led to measurable seismic activity. A couple years prior, a Marshawn Lynch touchdown run caused what came to be known as the "beast quake."
Looking at the footage from the celebrations in Mexico City on Sunday, it's easy to see how the ground could have shook.
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