Historical and Geological Evidence of Tsunamis in Europe and the Mediterranean

The documentation of tsunamis in the European–Mediterranean region is mainly based on historical sources, such as histories and chronicles, ecclesiastical texts, travelers’ descriptions, official reports, eyewitnesses’ accounts, press reports, etc. However, the geological identification of tsunamis is also important, that is of paleotsunamis, which relies on onshore and offshore geological signatures of past tsunamis. Onshore signatures include tsunami sediment deposits, inland movement of offshore boulders as well as geomorphological imprints, for example, soil erosion. On some occasions archeological observations have provided evidence of paleotsunami action. Offshore geological observations of tsunamis are rare and may include turbidite deposits and anomalous layers of foraminifera assemblages. Only very few tsunami events have been instrumentally recorded, such as the large tsunamis of Messina, South Italy, of December 28, 1908, the Amorgos one, South Aegean Sea, of July 9, 1956 and the May 21, 2003 Boumerdes (Algeria) tsunami.