April 19, 1650 Tsunami: Azov and Black Seas, Ukraine
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake began at Azov and Black Seas, Ukraine on April 19, 1650.
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 19, 1650
- Source
- Azov and Black Seas, Ukraine
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 44.700° N, 33.300° E
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000)
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.
1650 April 19, 45.7 N 26.6 E, magnitude 6.2 (reference #223)
An earthquake in the Azov Sea, speculated magnitude 7, approximate epicenter 44.7 N, 33.3 E, occurred in 1650. The geological traces of the tsunami were found in Sebastopol Bay, Crimea [Nikonov, 1997] (reference #4213)
1650, Sivash, Azov Sea. 44.7 N 33.3 E. Probable tsunami. This was an earthquake (M =7.0±0.5) and tsunami event reported by Nikonov (1997a) to have occurred in 1650 in the western shores of the Azov Sea as well as in the Black Sea: “Sea flooded the shore to connect with the Sivash, then the water receded near Genichesk and Arabat. Geological traces of tsunami in the Sevastopol Bay” in Crimea. He also estimated a water level rise of 0.5 to 1.0m and a tsunami intensity k of degree III. (reference #9391)
1650 Improbable tsunami. Sea flooded in Sivash (Azov Sea), then receded near the ancient fortress of Genichesk and Arabat. (reference #11164)
1650 April 29, 44.7 N 33 E. Probable tsunami. Geological traces of tsunamis in Sevastopol Bay (Nikonov, 1997). “The Sea of Azov spread inland, connected with Sivash, and then retreated from the coastal castles” (Czelebi, 1969). “The rivers reversed their courses,” “the sea spread over the area where the steppe was,” “many people were drowned, but many were carried away alive ... by the sea” (Amfiteatrov, 2001). (reference #12050)
More
Every tsunami in 1650The 1600sTsunamis of UkraineThe 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 2290.