Catalogue of tsunamis on the Spanish coast
Citation: Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN). Catalogue of tsunamis on the Spanish coast. https://doi.org/10.7419/162.04.2023
| Region | Nomenclature used to identify the region where the tsunami source occurred (Maramai et al., 2014) |
| ATAtlantic Ocean | |
| M3Western Mediterranean | |
| Cause | Two-letters code specifying the cause of the tsunami |
| TTEarthquake in land | |
| TSSubmarine earthquake | |
| DSTSubmarine landslide triggered by an earthquake | |
| DGLandslide caused by gravitational instability | |
| ?Unknown cause | |
| Validity | Parameter that indicates the reliability of a tsunami event in the past based on the assessment of the quality of available data on the generating cause, the description of the tsunami and contemporary bibliographic material (Tinti et al., 2004). From this indicator, the end user can assess the reliability of historical tsunamis for which little information is available. It ranges from 0 to 4: |
| 0Very improbable tsunami | |
| 1Improbable tsunami | |
| 2Questionable tsunami | |
| 3Probable tsunami | |
| 4Definite tsunami | |
| Those tsunamis with validity 0 and 1 are excluded from the catalogue. |
| Date | Location | Source | Tsunami information | References | More info | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Hour | Region | Subregion | Cause | Latitude (°) | Longitude (°) | Depth (km) | Maximum observed intensity | Magnitude (Mw) | Description | Reliability in Spain | Number of observations in Spain | Maximum wave height (m) in Spain | Intensity S-A | Intensity P-I | Date | Source | Tsunami information | |
| 22/09/1522 | 10:00:?? | M3 | Almería | TT | 36.97 | -2.67 | 8.50 | Tsunami in Almería and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (Spain). | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | Lettera scritta al Pontefice (1522), Hervías y von Waldheim (1948), Galbis Rodríguez (1940), Kaabouben et al. (2009) | ||||
| 09/10/1680 | 07:??:?? | M3 | Málaga | TT | 36.66 | -4.77 | 40 | 8.50 | Rough sea in Málaga (Spain). | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | Goded et al. (2008) | AHN (1680), BNE (1680), BUG (1680), AMM (1680), Goded (2006) | ||
| 01/11/1755 | 10:16:?? | AT | Azores-Gibraltar | TS | 36.50 | -10.00 | 10.00 | 8.5 | Catastrophic tsunami in the south and west of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. The tsunami was observed on the North Atlantic coast (from Barbados to the United Kingdom). | 4 | 39 | 13 | 6 | 9 | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | Bevis (1757), Martínez Solares (2001), Maramai et al. (2019) | ||
| 31/03/1761 | 12:10:?? | AT | Azores-Gibraltar | TS | 34.50 | -13.00 | 9.00 | 8.5 | Tsunami in Lisbon and the Azores (Portugal); Cádiz, Puerto de Santa María, Ayamonte and Finisterre (Spain); Barbados, Ireland and England. | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Baptista et al. (2006) | Baptista et al. (2006) | Rodríguez de la Torre (1997), Guerra y Peña y Roméu Palazuelos (2002), Baptista et al. (2006) | |||
| 09/10/1790 | 01:15:?? | M3 | North Algeria | TT | 35.90 | -0.60 | 9.50 | 6.7 | Tsunami in Almería and Cartagena (Spain); and in Oran (Algeria). | 2 | 2 | 1.8 | 3 | 5 | Buforn et al. (2019) | Kaabouben et al. (2009), Buforn et al. (2019) | Memorial Literario (1790), López Marinas y Salord (1990) | ||
| 13/01/1804 | 17:53:?? | M3 | Alboran Sea | TS | 36.70 | -3.10 | 7.50 | 6.1 | Sea withdrawal in the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and on the coasts of Granada or Almería (Spain). | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Martínez Solares y Mezcua (2002) | IGN (2013) | Gazeta de Madrid (1804) | |||
| 21/08/1856 | 21:45:?? | M3 | North Algeria | TS | 36.82 | 5.79 | 8.00 | 6.6 | Sea level rise and damage in the port of Maó (Balearic Islands, Spain). Withdrawal and sea level rise of up to 4 m in several cities of Algeria. | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | Harbi et al. (2011) | Harbi et al. (2011) | El Genio de la Libertad (1856), El Palmesano (1856), Harbi et al. (2011) | |||
| 25/11/1941 | 18:03:57 | AT | Azores-Gibraltar | TS | 37.30 | -18.97 | 10 | 6.00 | 7.8 | The tsunami wave was violent in the Canary Islands. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ISC-GEM (2026) | ISC-GEM (2026) | Boletín de las Observaciones Sísmicas del Observatorio Sismológico de Almería (Julio-Diciembre 1941) | ||
| 09/09/1954 | 01:04:37 | M3 | North Algeria | DST/TT | 36.28 | 1.47 | 0 | 10.50 | 6.7 | Recorded by tide gauges in Alicante, Málaga, Ceuta and Algeciras (Spain). | 4 | 4 | 0.34 | 1 | 2 | Mezcua y Martínez Solares (1983) | Mezcua y Martínez Solares (1983), Hamdache et al. (2010) | Soloviev et al. (2000), mareogramas del IGN e IEO | |
| 28/02/1969 | 02:40:34 | AT | Azores-Gibraltar | TS | 36.05 | -10.63 | 31 | 8.50 | 7.8 | Recorded by tide gauges in the Tagus estuary, Cascais, Lagos, Faro (mainland Portugal) and Horta (the Azores, Portugal); Casablanca with a maximum height of 0.6 m (Morocco); Cádiz and Canary Islands (Spain). | 4 | 13 | 0.48 | 2 | 3 | Buforn et al. (2020) | Buforn et al. (2020) | Rothé (1971), Baptista et al. (2025), mareogramas del IGN e IEO | |
| 17/07/1969 | ??:??:?? | AT | ? | ? | ? | Recorded by tide gauges in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain); Angra do Heroísmo and Horta (the Azores, Portugal); Lagos and Cascais (mainland Portugal). | 2 | 4 | 0.26 | 1 | 1 | Baptista y Miranda (2009) | Baptista y Miranda (2009) | Baptista y Miranda (2009), Galindo et al. (2021), mareogramas del IGN e IEO | |||||
| 26/05/1975 | 09:11:51 | AT | Gloria Fault | TS | 35.96 | -17.58 | 15 | 6.00 | 7.8 | Recorded by tide gauges in the Azores (Portugal) and mainland Portugal; Canary Islands and mainland Spain; and South West England. | 4 | 9 | 0.22 | 1 | 2 | IGN (2026) | ISC-GEM (2026), IGN (2026) | Campos Romero (1992), Maramai et al. (2019), mareogramas del IGN e IEO | |
| 10/10/1980 | 12:25:23 | M3 | North Algeria | TT | 36.15 | 1.45 | 5 | 9.00 | 7.1 | Recorded by tide gauges in Algeciras, Málaga, Almería, Cartagena and Alicante (Spain). | 4 | 4 | 0.51 | 1 | 2 | IGN (2026) | IGN (2026) | Soloviev et al. (2000), mareogramas del IGN | |
| 21/05/2003 | 18:44:19 | M3 | North Algeria | TS | 36.85 | 3.68 | 0 | 9.50 | 6.8 | Damage to boats in the Balearic Islands (Spain). Recorded by tide gauges in the western Mediterranean Sea. | 4 | 35 | 1.96 | 3 | 4 | IGN (2026) | IGN (2026) | Vich y Montserrat (2009), Maramai et al. (2019), Capitanías Marítimas (2003), mareogramas del IGN, IEO y PdE | |
| 14/11/2020 | 15:00:?? | AT | Canarias | DG | 28.08 | -17.33 | 0 | Local tsunami due to a large rockfall on the beach of Argaga (La Gomera Island). | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 2 | 3 | Galindo et al. (2021) | IELIG IGME (2026) | Galindo et al. (2021) | |||
| 12/08/2021 | 18:35:18 | AT | South Sandwich Islands | TS | -58.26 | -25.73 | 20 | 7.00 | 8.3 | Recorded by tide gauges in 3 different oceans: Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. | 4 | 3 | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | ISC-GEM (2026) | ISC-GEM (2026) | Rabinovich et al. (2025), mareogramas de PdE | |
The Catalogue of Tsunamis on the Spanish Coast is a continuously updated resource identified by a general DOI (https://doi.org/10.7419/162.04.2023). The catalogue may incorporate new information as it becomes available. When updates involve substantial changes to its content, a new PDF version will be generated and retained, and a specific DOI will be assigned to it. In this way, each version will be identified and may be cited independently. Previous versions can be consulted on the Tsunami Catalogues