What Happened?
August 24th 79AD marks when the Ancient Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum were devastated by the largest known disaster to have occurred in the Ancient world, the Plinian eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Leading up to the eruption, there had been tremors throughout the land-however due to the lack of knowledge of earth sciences, they didn't understand that those tremors signalled to the possible eruption of the mountain that both these cities were shadowed by. Midday: 24th August 79AD Several small eruptions were proceeded by a large mushrooming cloud of superheated rock and gas that reached over 20km high. A strong wind drove the cloud of ash over Pompeii, plunging it into darkness. The following day: 25th August 79AD The cloud, so large, blocked the sun. The erupted magma then mixed with air and produced the volcanic rock, pumice, which rained down heavily on Pompeii. People were trapped by doors blocked with debris and roofs that collapsed under the weight of heavier, denser pumice. The denser pumice destabilised the cloud. This caused the first deadly pyroclastic surge. The cloud reaches its maximum height of 30km and finally collapses. The pyroclastic surge headed for Herculaneum, instantly killing everything it touched. People were turned into charcoal, soft tissue vaporised. The cloud collapses for the last time, sending a pyroclastic surge into Pompeii and killed all who remained. The noxious gases inhaled caused a cement like material to develop in the lungs. By the end of the eruption, Herculaneum was buried by 20 metres of volcanic material. The pyroclastic surge hardened to form rock overtime. Pompeii was buried by 5 metres of volcanic material. This makes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius extremely significant. The manner of the eruption preserved a snapshot of life in the Ancient World, without which we would have lost fundamental insight into a world different from our own. |