Celebrating fans cause minor earthquake in US football game

Seattle football fans erupted in cheers so raucous early in the Monday night match-up against the New Orleans Saints that their jumping up and down registered as a minor earthquake, local media reported.

The celebration after the Seahawks' defensive end Michael Bennett recovered a fumble by New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees in the first quarter and ran it back for a touchdown was picked up by a seismometer used by the Northwest Seismic Network, which monitors earth activity in Washington and Oregon, the Seattle Times reported.

The earthquake measured between a magnitude 1 and 2, too small to be traced by the US Geological Survey, the report said.

The touchdown set the stage for a 34-7 Seahawks win.

The seismometer is part of a network that is headquartered at the University of Washington's Department of Earth and Space Sciences.

The rivalry between the Seahawks and the Saints has caused tremors in the past.

The seismometer recorded Marshawn Lynch's "Beast Quake" on January 8, 2011, when he scored a 67-yard touchdown run that clinched a 41-36 playoff victory over the Saints, the report said. 

Image: Defensive end Michael Bennett #72 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates a first quarter touchdown against the New Orleans Saints during a game at Century Link Field on December 2, 2013 in Seattle, Washington.

Photograph: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images