Mexico’s Victory Over Ecuador Made the Ground Shake. Was It an Artificial Earthquake?
Mexico’s Victory Over Ecuador Made the Ground Shake. Was It an Artificial Earthquake?
墨西哥战胜厄瓜多尔引发地面震动，这是“人工地震”吗？
The ground literally shook after the two goals that secured Mexico’s victory over Ecuador in the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday. Mexico’s Digital Platform for Early Warning and Comprehensive Risk Management (SASSLA) reported that fan celebrations following goals by Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez caused “a significant artificial signal” recorded by a Raspberry Shake seismograph located near the Mexico City Stadium. The seismic alert system noted on its social media accounts that “the outburst of euphoria and mass cheering produced vibrations in the local area.”
周二，在2026年世界杯32强赛中，墨西哥队以两粒进球锁定胜局，比赛结束后地面发生了真实的震动。墨西哥综合风险管理与预警数字平台（SASSLA）报告称，在胡利安·基尼奥内斯（Julián Quiñones）和劳尔·希门尼斯（Raúl Jiménez）进球后，球迷的庆祝活动引发了“显著的人工信号”，该信号被位于墨西哥城体育场附近的树莓派地震仪（Raspberry Shake）记录了下来。该地震预警系统在其社交媒体账号上指出：“狂喜的爆发和大规模的欢呼在当地产生了震动。”
The phenomenon can even occur thousands of miles away from where the matches are being played. When Mexico defeated Germany at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Mexico’s Institute of Geological and Atmospheric Research reported that, following Hirving Lozano’s winning goal, a seismic signal of artificial origin was detected, “possibly caused by mass jumping” in Mexico.
这种现象甚至可能发生在距离比赛地数千英里之外的地方。2018年俄罗斯世界杯墨西哥队击败德国队时，墨西哥地质与大气研究所报告称，在伊尔文·洛萨诺（Hirving Lozano）打入制胜球后，监测到了一个人为来源的地震信号，这“很可能是由墨西哥国内的大规模跳跃引起的”。
Geophysicists have also detected vibrations in Bergen, Norway, in the past few weeks, whenever the country’s team scored goals during the group stage matches in North America.
过去几周，每当挪威队在北美的世界杯小组赛中进球时，地球物理学家也在挪威卑尔根监测到了震动。
Something similar happened in 2024, when a Taylor Swift concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles generated long-duration, low-frequency signals—with harmonic frequency peaks between 1 and 10 Hz—detected by seismic monitoring sensors.
2024年也发生过类似的情况：泰勒·斯威夫特（Taylor Swift）在洛杉矶SoFi体育场举办演唱会时，地震监测传感器记录到了持续时间长、频率低的信号，其谐波频率峰值在1到10赫兹之间。
For several years now, the term “artificial earthquake” has been used in the media to describe vibrations recorded by seismological systems during sporting events or large-scale performances. However, experts say the term is not a good description of the phenomenon.
多年来，媒体一直使用“人工地震”一词来描述体育赛事或大型演出期间地震系统记录到的震动。然而，专家表示，这个词并不能很好地描述这种现象。
In fact, artificial earthquakes do exist and have been the subject of study for decades. Research by the Geosciences Department at Durham University defines them as “human-induced earthquakes,” caused by activities capable of altering the geological behavior of the ground, such as the construction of high-rise buildings, groundwater extraction, tunnel excavation, enhanced oil recovery, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), or underground gas storage.
事实上，人工地震确实存在，并且几十年来一直是研究课题。杜伦大学地球科学系的研究将其定义为“人类诱发地震”，由能够改变地面地质行为的活动引起，例如高层建筑施工、地下水开采、隧道挖掘、强化采油、水力压裂（fracking）或地下储气。
Experts explain that, for ground movement to be classified as an earthquake, it must be associated with a geological process. The mere fact that a seismograph records a disturbance does not mean make it an earthquake.
专家解释说，地面运动要被归类为地震，必须与地质过程相关联。仅仅因为地震仪记录到了扰动，并不意味着它就是地震。
Arturo Iglesias, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, explained several years ago that, although human activity generates movements capable of being recorded by seismographs, this does not imply that they are actual geological phenomena that can be measured using seismic magnitudes or cause changes in the subsurface.
墨西哥国立自治大学地球物理研究所的研究员阿图罗·伊格莱西亚斯（Arturo Iglesias）几年前曾解释说，尽管人类活动产生的运动能够被地震仪记录下来，但这并不意味着它们是可以用地震震级衡量或导致地下变化的实际地质现象。
Iglesias added that seismic monitoring systems are capable of detecting micro-movements in the ground, whether of natural origin or resulting from human activities. He also noted that their readings can be influenced by factors such as the location of the stations, the characteristics of the terrain, or the intensity of certain activities taking place on the surface.
伊格莱西亚斯补充说，地震监测系统能够检测到地面的微小运动，无论是自然起源还是人类活动的结果。他还指出，其读数可能会受到台站位置、地形特征或地表特定活动强度等因素的影响。
“Even if a person jumps next to a sensor, it’s detected, but it’s not an earthquake. An earthquake caused by the scattered activity of fans is a joke,” Iglesias stresses.
“即使一个人在传感器旁边跳跃，它也能检测到，但这并不是地震。由球迷分散活动引起的地震简直是个笑话，”伊格莱西亚斯强调道。
However, the unusual vibrations generated by the simultaneous movement of thousands of people—as occurred after the Mexican national team scored its goals on Tuesday—have become an increasingly relevant field of research.
然而，由成千上万人的同步运动所产生的异常震动——正如周二墨西哥国家队进球后发生的那样——已经成为一个日益重要的研究领域。
Experts maintain that a better understanding of these signals will enable the development of more precise methods for analyzing seismic activity and make it easier to distinguish between the different types of vibrations recorded by instruments. Furthermore, this knowledge could strengthen emerging applications, such as seismic interferometry—a technique that harnesses vibrations produced by everyday sources to study the structure of the subsurface without the need for controlled explosions or waiting for a natural earthquake to occur.
专家认为，更好地理解这些信号将有助于开发更精确的地震活动分析方法，并更容易区分仪器记录到的不同类型的震动。此外，这些知识可以加强新兴应用，例如地震干涉测量法——这是一种利用日常来源产生的震动来研究地下结构的技术，无需进行受控爆炸或等待自然地震发生。
This article originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
本文最初发表于《连线》西班牙语版（WIRED en Español），由西班牙语翻译而来。