Benjamin Fernando, a seismologist and planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University, happened to be in an Ohio city during the event. "And I noticed that all of a sudden everything went really quiet," he said. "So I was curious as to whether that was going to be replicated in the seismic data."

How Human Activity Shapes Seismic Noise

Seismic noise is not only caused by natural events. Much of it comes from everyday human activity, including construction, mining, traffic, and large gatherings like concerts or sporting events. All of these actions create small vibrations that travel through the ground.

To investigate the eclipse's impact, Fernando analyzed seismic data collected throughout April 2024 from several hundred monitoring stations. The results revealed a clear and repeatable pattern tied to the eclipse.

A Clear Pattern During Totality

In cities along the path of totality, seismic noise rose slightly just before the eclipse reached its peak. As the Sun became fully covered, those vibrations dropped sharply. Once totality ended, activity returned and noise levels climbed again, even slightly exceeding the monthly average.

This pattern was limited to urban areas directly in the path of totality. Rural regions did not show the same effect, and neither did cities just outside the path. "For example, in New York it was 97% totality, but nothing changed," Fernando explained.

A Shared Moment That Paused Daily Life

The findings suggest that the eclipse was more than just a visual spectacle. In cities where it was fully visible, people appeared to pause their usual routines, creating a measurable drop in human generated vibrations. Because cities normally produce a constant level of ground shaking, even a brief slowdown becomes easy to detect.

A similar effect was observed during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, when reduced human activity led to a 50% drop in anthropogenic seismic noise between March and May of that year.

No Link Between Eclipses and Earthquakes

The study also helps address a common misconception. Some claims suggest that eclipses can trigger earthquakes due to the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. However, the data provides no support for that idea.

"Folks for whatever reason sometimes push the narrative that eclipses cause earthquakes," Fernando said. "That's definitely not the case, and this is another demonstration of that."