November 4, 1958 Tsunami: East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean

Name: November 4, 1958 Tsunami: East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean
Start: 1958-11-04
Location: East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean

November 4, 1958 · 0.1 m · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake began at East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean on November 4, 1958 at 22:54:46 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.1 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.

Where the waves reached

The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

Tsunami warnings in force

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: November 4, 1958, 22:54:46 UTC
Source: East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.1
Maximum water height: 0.1 m (0.3 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 50.000° S, 115.000° W

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

1958, November 4, 22:54:46 UTC, 50 S 115 W, magnitude 6.1 MS. An earthquake with its source within the area of the East Pacific Ridge generated a tsunami which was recorded by a number of tide gauge stations. After 15.6 hours the wave arrived at Midway Island and was recorded there with an amplitude of 10 cm and a peiod of 12 minutes (Brazee, Cloud, 1960; Iida et al., 1967; Pararas-Caraydnnis, 1969). The latter source expresses reservations regarding the authenticity of the report on this tsunami. (reference #415)

1958, November 4, 22:55. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake from the East Pacific rise is listed by Pararas-Carayannis (1967) as having possibly generated a tsunami that was recorded at Midway. Given the low magnitude of the earthquake, the usually non-tsunamigenic source region, the small wave amplitude of 0.1 m and the lack of other reports, this is a very doubtful tsunami. (reference #236)

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

Where	Country	Km from source	Water height, m	Inland, m	Measured by	First wave, UTC	Deaths
Midway Islands, HI	US Territories	10,620	0.1		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)	day 5, 14:31

Every tsunami in 1958 The 1900s Tsunamis of Pacific Ocean The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 1883.