Vesuvius Essay Research Paper Mt Vesuvius ItalyLocation

After 12 hours of continuous explosive activity, a change in the eruptive dynamics occurred. The mouth of the volcano widened such that local gas pressure could no longer push up the tall ash column. The mixture of gas and ash no longer rose up into the sky, but immediately fell back onto the slopes of the volcano, forming glowing avalanches of hot flowing material (about 800 degrees) which rushed rapidly down slope, destroying everything in their paths. This change in the eruption proved fatal to the thousands of people around the volcano. The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed in a matter of minutes. The city was abandoned and its location forgotten.

(Other eruptions of Vesuvius.) Mudflows and lava flows from the eruption in 1631 killed 3,500 people. About 3,360 people died in the 79 A.D. eruption from ash flows and falls. . In 5960 B.C. and 3580 B.C., Mt. Vesuvius had eruptions that rate among the largest known in Europe. In 1595, excavations discovered artifacts at Pompeii and centuries of pillaging followed. Archeological excavations began in the mid-nineteenth century. There are numerous molds of people in their final moments. Now, much of Pompeii has been excavated and it has revealed much about how people lived during that time (and died during the eruption).