Mount Vesuvius A Tale of Two Towns

Mount Vesuvius has a long history in Italy Mount Vesuvius has a long history in Italy. The oldest dated rock from the volcano is about 300,000 years old. It was created when part of another volcano collapsed and began creating the Mount Vesuvius that we have today.

Eruptions Mount Vesuvius is probably most famous for the eruption in A.D. 79, but there were several large eruptions before that. In 5960 B.C. and 3580 B.C., Vesuvius had two eruptions that rate among the largest known in Europe.

Earthquakes The area is frequented by earthquakes. This picture shows earthquake damage, probably from the A.D. 62 earthquake that preceded the A.D. 79 volcanic eruption.

79 A.D. Eruption Most people probably didn’t realize that Vesuvius was a volcano. The eruption began on August 24, 79 A.D. An earthquake occurred in the early morning. Red-hot ash began to fall from the sky by the afternoon. In 24 hours the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed.

Eruption About 3,360 were buried in Pompeii and 5,000 people in Herculaneum. Both cities were on either side of the volcano.

Most of the people of Pompeii had no time to react Most of the people of Pompeii had no time to react. They were buried under ash anywhere from 16 to 26 feet deep. The ash fell so quickly that it preserved many of the city’s residents going about their daily lives.

Everything but the roofs of the houses were buried in ash. The city was abandoned and its location forgotten until 1595. Below is a street from Pompeii.

Herculaneum Herculaneum was also destroyed by the 79 A.D. eruption but not as Pompeii was. This city which is not very far from Pompeii was destroyed by mudflow, which is a mixture of wet materials that rush down a mountainside. Volcanologists think that the city was swept away under 75 feet of ash and mud.

79 A.D. Eruption The 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius was the first volcanic eruption ever to be described in detail. From 18 miles (30 km) west of the volcano, Pliny the Younger, witnessed the eruption and later recorded his observations in two letters. He described the earthquakes before the eruption, the eruption column, air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, pyroclastic flows, and even tsunami.

Pliny the Younger wrote about how his uncle, Pliny the Elder tried to take his ship to the shore of Pompeii to rescue people. He was not able to dock due to the ash and then sailed to Stabiae.

After the Eruption After Pompeii was buried and lost to history, the volcano continued to erupt every 100 years. The volcano followed this schedule until 1037 at which it became very quiet for 600 years. In 1631, the volcano killed an additional 4000 unsuspecting inhabitants. It was during the restoration after this eruption that workers discovered the ruins of Pompeii, buried and forgotten for nearly 1600 years.

It took another 300 years to begin unearthing the secret of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since 1631 Mount Vesuvius has erupted every 15 to 40 years. The ash makes the soil good for farming, but the people live with the threat that Mount Vesuvius could erupt again.

Mount Vesuvius Today Vesuvius has erupted about three dozen times since 79 A.D., most recently from 1913-1944. The 1913-1944 eruption is thought to be the end of an eruptive cycle that began in 1631.