The 79 AD eruption is one of the most well-known ancient eruptions in the world, and may have killed more than 16, people. Ash, mud and rocks from this eruption buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii is famous for the casts the hot ash formed around victims of the eruptions.
The unfortunate people suffocated on ash in the air, which then covered them and preserved amazing details of their clothing and faces. Starting in , Vesuvius entered a period of steady volcanic activity, including lava flows and eruptions of ash and mud. Violent eruptions in the late s, s and early s created more fissures, lava flows, and ash-and-gas explosions. These damaged or destroyed many towns around the volcano, and sometimes killed people; the eruption of had more than casualties.
The most recent eruption was in during World War II. It caused major problems for the newly-arrived Allied forces in Italy when ash and rocks from the eruption destroyed planes and forced evacuations at a nearby airbase.
Her concentration is in volcanology, and she is currently researching lava dome collapses and pyroclastic flows. She also writes the Magma Cum Laude blog , and in what spare time she has left, she enjoys rock climbing and playing various stringed instruments.
Simplified plate tectonics cross-section Simplified plate tectonics cross-section showing how Mount Vesuvius is located above a subduction zone formed where the African plate descends beneath Italy. Map: Where is Vesuvius? Plaster casts: Victims of the 79 A. Ruins at the ancient city of Pompeii Brick columns stand among ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii. Did You Know? The 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius is why volcanologists use "Plinian" to describe large volcanic eruption clouds.
Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian who witnessed the 79 AD eruption, wrote the oldest surviving description of the tall, tree-shaped cloud that rose above the volcano. Modern volcanologists use the term to describe large-volume, violent eruptions that produce quickly-expanding clouds of rock, ash and gases which rise many miles into the atmosphere. Some more recent examples of Plinian eruptions include Mount St. Helens in and Pinatubo in Here is Pliny's description Its general appearance can be best expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed.
Sometimes it looked white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it. Both flows and surges emerged from Vesuvius during that fateful eruption, and both could have killed people in a range of horrific ways. Flying debris can hit and slaughter people, and inhaling too much ash or breathing in volcanic gas can cause asphyxiation.
The extremely high temperatures can also immediately flash-fry a person to death. Several papers he contributed to, including a study in Nature and another in PLOS ONE in , provided evidence suggesting that ash and gases were not the primary causes of death in the region, as other studies had concluded.
Instead, Petrone argued that it was the heat itself that killed most people, affording them a quick and painless demise. Seated six miles away from the volcano, Pompeii was initially hit by falling volcanic debris, causing houses to collapse and suffocate those inside. The city was then hit by a particularly gassy pyroclastic surge, which was responsible for the greatest number of fatalities. See horses found in Pompeii that were likely harnessed to try and flee the eruption.
Archaeologists have found that the bodies of the victims here remained largely intact. In Herculaneum and the nearby site of Oplontis, something more disturbing took place. Researchers point to a dark, reddish residue found on the bones of several victims in Herculaneum. Chemical analysis revealed it to be rich in irons and iron oxides, most likely originating from the blood and bodily fluids of the victims. In addition, many of the Pompeii victims were found in fully contorted poses, indicating that their muscles had contracted very quickly upon being exposed to high heat.
Those in Herculaneum seemed to show muscle contraction in some limbs but not others. According to the new study, this supports the idea that extreme heat could have destroyed certain muscles faster than they could contract.
Jaskulska says that some independent forensic evidence supports the idea that red blood cell destruction can cause this sort of bone staining. This heat is comparable to what victims would have experienced in Herculaneum. This seems odd to her, considering that there are far more soft tissues to vaporize on legs than on arms. Jaskulska also expected that if these tissues disappeared due to sudden heat, the damage to the bones would be much more intense than it appears.
Even if heat-driven hemoglobin breakdown did occur, the pyroclastic surges might have caused the damage after the people had already died of asphyxiation or other causes. Modern analogs may shed some light on the debate. Mount Vesuvius formed due to the collision of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, roughly around 25, years ago. Though several eruptions occurred prior to A. Much of the destruction has not even been repaired, come the 79 eruption.
The events of the 79 eruption are famously recounted by Pliny the Younger in two letters written to another historian named Tacitus.
Combined with geological evidence, much of the information we have now about Mount Vesuvius and its 79 eruption is thanks to Pliny the Younger, the only surviving eyewitness account of these events. In the letters, Pliny the Younger describes the last days of Pliny the Elder, his uncle. As Pliny the Younger writes, Pliny the Elder noticed early volcanic activity occurring across the Bay of Naples and organized a rescue mission. He describes how his uncle died due to a mass of sulfurous gas. Geologists believe there were three significant Mount Vesuvius eruptions prior to the famous eruption in A.
The most famous of the three previous eruptions was in B. In , the volcano entered a period of frequent volcanic activity.
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