geosciences Article A Review on Historical Tsunamis in the Canary Islands: Implications for Tsunami Risk Reduction Inés Galindo 1,*, Carmen Romero 2, Esther Martín-González 3 , Juana Vegas 4 and Nieves Sánchez 1 1 Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME, CSIC), Unidad Territorial de Canarias, Alonso Alvarado, 43, 2A, 35003 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain;
[email protected] 2 Departamento de Geografía, Campus de Guajara, Universidad de La Laguna, 38207 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain;
[email protected] 3 Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Tenerife, Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros, Fuente Morales, 1, 38003 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain;
[email protected] 4 Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME, CSIC), Ríos Rosas, 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: The analysis of the historical documentary sources together with evidence from the geological record is essential to understand the impact and processes triggered by tsunamis on the Canary Islands. This archipelago has been affected by tsunamis caused by different geological processes, of which the most studied have been those generated by prehistoric mega-landslides. However, there is also evidence of those produced by distant tsunamigenic sources. An exhaustive review of all documentation available was made, identifying the existence of at least four seismically triggered tsunami episodes (1755, 1761, 1941 and 1969), the majority with an epicenter in the Azores- Gibraltar boundary. In this work, several tsunamis are cited for the first time, such as the one Citation: Galindo, I.; Romero, C.; produced by the Argaga (La Gomera) landslide in 2020.