An example of the data returned by a seismometer

Late in the second quarter of the football game against San Jose State Oct. 31, Boise State scored a key touchdown. The hometown crowd literally shook the ground under Bronco Stadium, and Matt Haney and Andrew Nies have the seismogram to prove it.

Nies is a senior undergraduate student and president of Boise State’s Geophysics Club. Haney is an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences who worked at the Alaska Volcano Observatory before joining the College of Arts and Sciences faculty this fall. They are the masterminds behind the Boise State Football Seismology Team, a new group dedicated to digitally recording ground motion resulting from large crowds at Bronco Stadium. October 31 was a test run for the group’s first full experiment, which will take place during the highly anticipated matchup between longstanding rivals Boise State and the University of Idaho at 1:35 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14.

“The stadium is, in many ways, like a volcano. A lot of energy will be released during this game, and we’re going to capture the eruption,” Haney said. “Undergraduate and graduate students will participate in the experiment and learn how to use instruments utilized in field research, and data collected should yield subsurface information relevant to detailed mapping of earthquake hazards on campus.”

Haney said similar studies recently have taken place at the University of Wisconsin and Louisiana State University. Thanks to Boise State’s experiment, the WAC will join the Big 10 and the SEC as the only conferences engaged in the exciting field of football seismology.

“I hope for the sake of the experiment that the game isn’t a blowout,” said Nies, who came up with the idea for the project during the season opener against Oregon, which could be heard (and possibly felt) throughout campus. “It will be a scientific way of watching the game.”

Watching scientifically will involve eight instruments that detect and record seismic waves — two accelerometers and six broadband seismometers — buried or positioned in and around Bronco Stadium. One accelerometer inside the stadium will record ground motion at close range while the other will provide a real-time visual display in a booth on the east side of the Kinesiology Building. By inviting the public to view the collection of seismic data as it happens, the Football Seismology Team hopes people will better relate to and learn about the experiment.

“There is significant interest in such urban geophysics now, and I am confident we’ll be able to present these data at future scientific meetings,” Haney said. “As the project moves forward, it will give students critical hands-on research experience and a chance to seek out and explore earth-shaking events.”