Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79
Mount Vesuvius, a stratovolcano in modern-day Italy, erupted in 79 AD in one of the most

famous and deadly volcanic eruptions in European history, which was witnessed and
documented by Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet. [1]
Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a
height of 33 km (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons
per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki
bombings. [2]
Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges
and ashfall deposits, the best known being Pompeii and Herculaneum. [1][2] After archeological
excavations revealed much about the lives of the inhabitants, the area became a major tourist
attraction, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and part of Vesuvius National Park.
The total population of both cities was 16,000–20,000. The remains of over 1,500 people have
been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the death toll is still unclear. The event is the
namesake for the Vesuvian type of volcanic eruptions, characterized by eruption columns of hot
gases and ash exploding into the stratosphere, although the event also included pyroclastic
flows associated with Pelean eruptions.
Precursors and foreshocks
The 79 AD eruption was preceded by a powerful earthquake seventeen years before on

February 5, AD 62, which caused widespread destruction around the Bay of Naples, and
particularly to Pompeii.[3] Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano
erupted.[4] The deaths of 600 sheep from "tainted air" in the vicinity of Pompeii, reported by
Seneca the Younger, leads volcanologist Haraldur Sigurðsson to compare them to similar deaths
of sheep in Iceland from pools of volcanic carbon dioxide and to speculate that the earthquake
of AD 62 was related to new activity by Mount Vesuvius.[5]
Another smaller earthquake took place in AD 64; it was recorded by Suetonius in his biography
of Nero,[6] and by Tacitus in Annales because it took place while Nero was in Naples performing
for the first time in a public theatre.[7] Suetonius recorded that the emperor continued singing
through the earthquake until he had finished his song, while Tacitus wrote that the theatre
collapsed shortly after being evacuated.
The Romans grew accustomed to minor earth tremors in the region; the writer Pliny the
Younger wrote that they "were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in
Campania". Small earthquakes were felt for four days before the eruption, becoming more
frequent,[4] but the warnings were not recognized.[8]
Nature of the eruption
Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the
same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days. The morning of the first day was
perceived as normal by the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger,
who at that point was staying at Misenum, on the other side of the Bay of Naples about 29
kilometres (18 mi) from the volcano, which may have prevented him from noticing the early
signs of the eruption. He was not to have any opportunity, during the next two days, to talk to
people who had witnessed the eruption from Pompeii or Herculaneum (indeed he never
mentions Pompeii in his letter), so he would not have noticed early, smaller fissures and
releases of ash and smoke on the mountain, if such had occurred earlier in the morning.
Around 1:00 pm, Mount Vesuvius violently erupted, spewing up a high-altitude column from
which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during
this time. At some time in the night or early the next day, pyroclastic flows in the close vicinity
of the volcano began. Lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires. People as far away
as Misenum fled for their lives. The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, knocking
down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining
population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by
additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day,
the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone
weakly.
Pliny the Younger wrote an account of the eruption:
Broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius; their light and brightness were
the more vivid for the darkness of the night... it was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but
there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night.[9]

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Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79

Mount Vesuvius, a stratovolcano in modern-day Italy, erupted in 79 AD in one of the most

Precursors and foreshocks

The 79 AD eruption was preceded by a powerful earthquake seventeen years before on

Pliny the Younger wrote an account of the eruption:

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