Celebrations from Scotland fans as they secured a place at the men’s World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Denmark were so intense that they caused the earth to shake – with the tremors picked up by the UK’s national earthquake monitoring agency.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) recorded seismic activity equivalent to an “extremely small earthquake” after Kenny McLean’s stoppage time stunner from the halfway line, lobbing goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
It was only one of the heart-stopping goals of the evening, with Scott McTominay’s third-minute bicycle kick giving the hosts a half-time lead on Wednesday night at Hampden Park, in a victory that saw Scotland men’s first time qualifying for the World Cup since 1998.
A second significant seismic burst came at the sound of the final whistle, with scenes of elation from crowds at the match and at pubs across Scotland.
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Both surges produced ~200kW of power – the equivalent of 25-40 car batteries or a football moving at 900m/s – and registered at between magnitude -1 and zero on the Richter scale.
A small peak was also detected around the point of Scotland’s third goal, from Kieran Tierney, three minutes into injury time.
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An official attendance of 49,587 was recorded at the match, which saw Scotland top Group C and secure automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup, to join England in the finals.
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The peaks were picked up from the BGS station around 1.2 miles (2km) away from the stadium, at Glasgow Geothermal Observatory in Dalmarnock.
Every year, 300 naturally occurring earthquakes are detected in the UK, but only around 30 are of a high enough magnitude to be felt by people.
An earthquake today in Pubil, Perth and Kinross, in Scotland, registered at 2.5 magnitude, the BGS said.
On Monday, a 3.3 magnitude earthquake struck Perth and Kinross. The epicentre of the tremor, recorded at 7.25am, was in Pubil in Glen Lyon.
