In March 2015, in conjunction with PayPal Park's opening, the San Jose Earthquakes and the U.S Geological Survey announced that a seismograph had been installed on-site to provide better characterization of how ground motion varies from one location to another during earthquakes. The seismograph, which is used to detect small natural quakes, is sensitive enough to record ground movement from raucous crowd activity at Earthquakes home games.
After collaboration with USGS, the data from NetQuakes has finally been revealed. Below is the top-10 most seismic moments at Quakes games in PayPal Park's history, measured by approximating the kinetic energy in the ground for a given 15-second period. To put it in laymen’s terms, when the Quakes score and fans go ballistic, these are the 10 moments in the stadium’s short-but-sweet existence that caused the most ground movement.
