The Matterhorn in the Alps gently moves back and forth about once every two seconds.

The seemingly unshakable Matterhorn edifice – one of the highest peaks in the Alps – moves back and forth every two seconds.

This conclusion was reached by researchers led by the Technical University of Munich, who measured the normally imperceptible vibrations of the cult mountain.

The team explains that the movements are stimulated by the Earth’s seismic energy, which stems from oceans, earthquakes, and human activity.

The Matterhorn is located on the border between Switzerland and Italy, its peaks are 4,478 meters above sea level and towering above Zermatt.

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From tuning forks to bridges, all things vibrate, resulting in a so-called natural frequency that depends on its geometry and physical properties.

“We wanted to see if such resonant vibrations could also be detected on a mountain as large as the Matterhorn,” said paper and earth author Samuel Weber, who conducted the research while residing at the Technical University of Munich.

To find out, Dr. Weber and his colleagues installed several seismographs on the Matterhorn, the highest of which was just below the summit at 14,665 feet (4,470 meters) above sea level.

Another was placed on the site of Camp Solvay – an emergency shelter in Hornlegrat, the northeastern ridge of the Matterhorn, which dates back to 1917 – and a measuring station at the foot of the mountain served as a reference point.

Each sensor in the measurement network is configured to automatically send its records of all movements to the Swiss Seismology Service.

By analyzing the seismometer readings, the scientists were able to get the frequency and echo of the mountain’s echo.

They found that the Matterhorn oscillates between north and south at 0.42 Hz and east and west with a similar frequency.

By speeding up the measured vibrations by 80 times, the team was able to make the surrounding Matterhorn’s vibrations audible to the human ear – as shown in the video below. (Headphones are recommended for very low frequency sounds.)

On average, the Matterhorn’s motions were small, ranging from nanometers to micrometers, but at the top it was found to be up to 14 times stronger than those recorded at the foot of the mountain.

The team explained that this is because the summit can move more freely, while the slope of the mountain is stable, just as the top of the tree sways more in the wind.

They added that the team also found that the increase in ground motion over the Matterhorn was also transmitted to seismicity, a fact that could have important implications for slope stability even in the event of strong earthquakes.

“Mountain areas with increased ground movement are likely to be more susceptible to landslides, rocks and rock damage when shaken by a violent earthquake,” said author and geologist Jeff Moore of the University of Utah.

According to the team, vibrations like those detected by the team are not characteristic of the Matterhorn, as many of the peaks are expected to move in a similar manner.

In fact, as part of their research, scientists from the Swiss Seismology Service conducted a follow-up study of central Gross Methen in Switzerland, a mountain similar in shape to the Matterhorn but much smaller.

Analysis reveals that Grosse Mythen oscillates at four times the frequency of the Matterhorn because smaller objects vibrate at higher frequencies than larger objects.

These examples represent one of the first cases in which the team investigated the shaking of such large objects, as previous research focused on small objects such as rock formations in Arches National Park in Utah.

Professor Moore commented: “It was exciting to see that our simulation approach also works for a mountain as large as the Matterhorn and that the results confirm the measurement data.”

The full results of the study were published in the journal Messages for Earth and Planetary Sciences.