Foo Fighters' fans cause 'tremors' in Auckland

Ground movements similar to volcanic tremors were recorded by GeoNet's seismic stations at Herne Bay and Eden Park recently, during the Foo Fighters' concert a few kilometres away from Auckland's Western Springs stadium.

According to New Zealand's GeoNet, the first vibrations were recorded at about 7.30 pm local time during support band Tenacious D's set, the Herald Sun reported.

The biggest shakes began at 8.20pm when Foo Fighters took to stage.

It's most likely that the shakes were caused by the weight of the 50,000 fans dancing.

GeoNet said the weight of the fans was equivalent to about 5000 tonnes of mass moving on the earth's surface.

The recordings show lulls between songs and peaks in intensity during the songs.

At its peak, the ground was shaking three times per second in a rhythmic motion. When the concert ended at 11pm, the vibrations stopped.

The signal recorded on that night was similar to volcanic tremors recorded at Mt Ruapehu and White Island.

GeoNet said the strong correlation of the vibrations with the Foo Fighters concert, and the fact the vibrations were only recorded at two seismic stations close to Western Springs, assured them the shakes were man-made.