Mount Vesuvius

1. Mount Vesuvius By Eoin Gilley & Gary Martin

2. Elevation : 1,281 m Location : Italy Type : Stratovolcano Age : 17000yr Last Eruption : 1944 Easiest : Hike Coordinates : 40d 49’N 14d 26’E Facts about mt vesuvius

3. History of Mt. Vesuvius • Today two million people live in the immediate vicinity of Mount Vesuvius. This mountain has erupted more than 50 times since the eruption in 79 A.D., when it buried Pompeii and its sister city, Herculaneum. After Pompeii was buried and lost to history, the volcano continued to erupt every 100 years until about 1037 A.D., when it entered a 600-year period of quiescence. 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 would take another 300 years for the excavations to reveal the story of Pompeii and Herculaneum

4. "Vesuvio (Vesuvius) is probably the most famous volcano on Earth, andcertainly one of the most, if not the most dangerous. It is also notable forhaving produced the first eruption of which an eyewitness account ispreserved, in AD 79. Geologically, Vesuvio is particular for its unusualversatility, its activity ranging from Hawaiian style emission of veryliquid lava, fountaining, and lava lakes, over Strombolian and Vulcanianactivity to violently explosive, Plinian events that produce pyroclasticflows and surges." Vesuvius

5. Vesuvius has erupted repeatedly in recorded history, most famously in 79 and subsequently in 472, 512, in 1631, six times in the 18th century, eight times in the 19thcentury (notably in 1872), and in 1906, 1929, and 1944. There has been no eruption since then. The eruptions vary greatly in severity but are characterised by explosive outbursts. On occasion, the eruptions have been so large that the whole of southern Europe has been blanketed by ashes; in 472 and 1631, Vesuvian ashes fell on Constantinople (Istanbul), over 1,000 miles away. The volcano has been quiescent since 1944 Eruptions

6. The picture to the right shows Mount Vesuvius as seen from the recently excavated ruins of Pompeii. Vesuvius is about 5 miles away. Try to imagine huge, billowing, gray-black clouds like those at Mount St. Helens rushing toward you at a hundred miles an hour. That is probably what the ancient Romans (whose body casts are shown below) saw just before they were entombed by hot ash. Ruins of Pompeii

7. Herculaneum Looking down on Herculaneum from the East, with the ‘House of the Gem’ in the foreground. The orange netting in the middle distance on the left of the picture is where a bridge crosses into the site from the site museum and the end of thaccess road. I believe that the area immediately beyond the bridge is where the Villa of the Papyri is in the process of being excavated, to the West of Herculaneum.

8. The rocks at Vesuvius are called tephrite. A tephrite is basaltic in character and contains the following minerals: calcic plagioclase, augite, and nepheline or leucite. Rock Type

10. Questions! • What type of volcano is Vesuvius? • In what decade did Vesuvius last erupt? • What two towns were destroyed in 79AD • What type of rock can be found on Vesuvius? • How often did Vesuvius erupt from 79AD to 1037?

11. Answers! • Stratovolcano. • 1940’s. • Pompeii & Herculaneum. • Basaltic Rock. • Every 100 years.

12. The End