April 20, 1608 Tsunami: Caspian Sea, Iran
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake began at Caspian Sea, Iran on April 20, 1608. It killed 3,000 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- April 20, 1608
- Source
- Caspian Sea, Iran
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.6
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 36.400° N, 50.500° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 3,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1608 April 20 Taliqan [36.4 N, 50.5 E, magnitude 7.6]. On 4 Muharram 1017 there was a major earthquake in southern Gilan, causing great damage over a large area. It caused large waves in the Caspian Sea which crashed up the coast and resulted in great alarm among men and animals. (reference #1117)
The earthquake caused large sea waves in the Caspian Sea, and caused panic to people and cows, with the latter swimming out to the Caspian Sea (reference #12414)
More
Every tsunami in 1608The 1600sTsunamis of IranThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 3563.