April 26, 1960 Tsunami: Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
A tsunami probably caused by an earthquake began at Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan on April 26, 1960. The water rose as high as 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
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 26, 1960
- Source
- Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
- Cause
- Questionable earthquake
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 40.200° N, 49.900° E
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.
Abnormal fluctuations of the sea level of the Caspian attributed to earthquakes were noticed on 26 April 1868 and 26 April 1960, mainly at Baku and Linkuran, where the sea level oscillated within the hour by fifty to more than a hundred centimetres. (reference #1117)
Oscillations in sea level of up to 1 m were observed for 2–3 h at Baku and all stations in the southern Caspian sea […] Also, several abnormal subsidence and rise of the sea level at Baku and other south Caspian Sea sites on 1960 April 26 has been mentioned by Rikhter (1961), while the occurrence of the corresponding Mw 6.4 earthquake has been reported two days earlier.(reference #14161)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baku | Azerbaijan | 19 | 1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 1960The 1900sTsunamis of AzerbaijanThis 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 6049.