That eruptive period ended in the major eruption of March 1944, which destroyed the villages of, This page was last edited on 5 March 2021, at 23:14. Two other important active volcanos in Italy are on islands.They are Etna and Stromboli. Others include Campi Flegrei, a large caldera a few kilometers to the north west, Mount Epomeo, 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the west on the island of Ischia, and several undersea volcanoes to the south. March 1944 The famous Mount Vesuvius, which is known throughout the world for its massively destructive eruption in A.D. 79, is located near Naples in Italy. It was considered a divinity of the Genius type at the time of the eruption of AD 79: it appears under the inscribed name Vesuvius as a serpent in the decorative frescos of many lararia, or household shrines, surviving from Pompeii. These damaged or destroyed many towns around the volcano, and sometimes killed people; the eruption of 1906 had more than 100 casualties. Around 26 civilians were killed in the disaster, displacing around 12,000 people in the process. Mount Vesuvius was formed by lava flows and smaller eruptions. Today, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living near enough to be affected by an eruption, with 600,000 in the danger zone, making it the most densely populated volcanic region in the world, as well as its tendency towards violent, explosive eruptions of the Plinian type. Mount Vesuvius (/vɪˈsuːviəs/ viss-OO-vee-əs; Italian: Vesuvio[1] Italian pronunciation: [veˈzuːvjo; -suː]; Neapolitan: 'O Vesuvio[2] [vəˈsuːvjə], also 'A muntagna or 'A montagna;[3] Latin: Vesuvius[4] [wɛˈsʊwɪ.ʊs], also Vesevius, Vesvius or Vesbius[5]) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. In the first letter to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger suggested that his uncle's death was due to the reaction of his weak lungs to a cloud of poisonous, sulphurous gas that wafted over the group. For other uses, see, Active stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, Later eruptions from the 3rd to the 19th centuries. Under Vesuvius, the lower part of the subducting slab has torn and detached from the upper part to form what is called a "slab window." The former was subducted beneath the latter, deeper into the earth. [73] One of the underlying goals is to reduce the time needed to evacuate the area, over the next twenty to thirty years, to two or three days. Etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Image copyright iStockphoto / Evgeny Bortnikov. Many are either extinct or have not erupted for tens of thousands of years. I hope ou do well on your paper. These stages … Geologists estimate it to be about 17,000 years old. Pliny sat down on a sail that had been spread for him and could not rise even with assistance when his friends departed. The slopes of the volcano are scarred by lava flows, while the rest are heavily vegetated, with scrub and forests at higher altitudes and vineyards lower down. Mount Vesuvius is caused by the African plate sinking underneath the Eurasian plate which therefore created a convergent boundary in the Bay of Naples, Italy. That is a volcano inside of another volcano (picture a Russian doll to get a clearer idea).On its exterior there is Monte Somma, what remains of the original volcano that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD . gee, mount vesuvius was a volcano, and kept going off and on, forever and ever, until it became as large as it was. Vesuvius in 2013 was 4,203 feet (1,281 meters) tall. It has erupted over 50 times during the last 2,000 years. [76] The summit of Vesuvius is open to visitors and there is a small network of paths around the volcano that are maintained by the park authorities on weekends. The volcano was then quiet (for 295 years, if the 217 BC date for the last previous eruption is true) and was described by, It erupted again in 203, during the lifetime of the historian, In 472, it ejected such a volume of ash that ashfalls were reported as far away as, The eruptions of 512 were so severe that those inhabiting the slopes of Vesuvius were granted exemption from taxes by, Further eruptions were recorded in 787, 968, 991, 999, 1007 and 1036 with the first recorded, Vesuvius entered a new phase in December 1631, when a major eruption buried many villages under lava flows, killing around 3,000 people. Some of the others volcano also found in this arc are Stromboli, Vulcano, Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) and Mount Etna. The eruptions are named after the. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Tascius[57]) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue. As gas-rich magma approaches the surface during an eruption, the huge drop in internal pressure caused by the reduction in weight of the overlying rock (which drops to zero at the surface) causes the gases to come out of solution, the volume of gas increasing explosively from nothing to perhaps many times that of the accompanying magma. The Somma Rim, a caldera -like structure formed by the collapse of a stratovolcano about 17,000 years ago, is visible as an arcuate dark area to the right and above Vesuvius. It is one of the many volcanoes formed from the Campanian volcanic arc. Most rocks erupted from Vesuvius are andesite, an intermediate volcanic rock (about 53-63% silica). [46] The initial major explosion produced a column of ash and pumice ranging between 15 and 30 kilometres (49,000 and 98,000 ft) high, which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum upwind. Layers of lava, ash, scoria and pumice make up the volcanic peak. The two men saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the peak. "Funiculì, Funiculà", a Neapolitan language song with lyrics by journalist Peppino Turco set to music by composer Luigi Denza, commemorates its opening. The former was subducted beneath the latter, deeper into the earth. The eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), erupting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6×105 cubic metres (7.8×105 cu yd) per second,[6] ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy released by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Additionally, the removal of the higher melting point material will raise the concentration of felsic components such as silicates potentially making the magma more viscous, adding to the explosive nature of the eruption. On August 24, A.D. 79, the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum were rocked by a massive explosion. Vesuvius has a long history of eruptions, beginning with the first known eruption in 5960 B.C. Located on Italy's west coast, it overlooks the Bay and City of Naples and sits in the crater of the ancient Somma volcano. 16,000 years ago: the Green Pumice (Pomici Verdoline) eruption, VEI 5. Pompeii is famous for the casts the hot ash formed around victims of the eruptions. [citation needed]. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences. [40] In the surviving copies of the letters several dates are given. The volcano then entered a stage of more frequent, but less violent eruptions, until the most recent. This generates heat, creating magma, the pressure of the heated magma forces open a weak spot in the crust. People caught on the former seashore by the first surge died of thermal shock. The Oscans, an Italic people, lived in the countryside. A few times since 1944, landslides in the crater have raised clouds of ash dust, raising false alarms of an eruption. The chronology of volcanic events on 24 and 25 August 79 AD at Vesuvius and its surroundings has been thoroughly investigated and documented by Sigurdsson [1982, 1985], who combined information from written accounts and geologic deposits to reconstruct the sequence of events.This chapter reviews that chronololgy and identifies potential consequences on the buildings of Pompeii. The valley between the cone and Mount Somma is called Valle del Gigante or Giant's Valley.Mount Vesuvius is considered to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of its proxi… That’s right; Mount Vesuvius doesn’t stand alone. When did Mount Vesuvius erupt? at greatest risk from pyroclastic flows. Plinian eruptions (huge explosions that create columns of gas, ash and rock which can rise dozens of kilometers into the atmosphere) have a much greater reach, and have destroyed entire ancient cities near Vesuvius with huge ashfalls and pyroclastic flows. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Geologists identified four major stages of volcanic eruption in Mount Fuji's formation process. Mt. He set off across the bay but in the shallows on the other side encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice and pieces of rock. It’s formed of two volcanoes! [52], The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. [9][72] The evacuation, by train, ferry, car, and bus, is planned to take about seven days, and the evacuees would mostly be sent to other parts of the country rather than to safe areas in the local Campania region, and may have to stay away for several months. His nephew attempted to resume a normal life, but that night a tremor awoke him and his mother, prompting them to abandon the house for the courtyard. Later, Mount Vesuvius reached the surface and had attached to Italy due to the deposits from the eruptions since 479 A.D. After staying overnight, the party was driven from the building by an accumulation of material, presumably tephra, which threatened to block all egress. The volcano is one of several which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius was then built up by a series of lava flows, with some smaller explosive eruptions interspersed between them. The volcano became quiescent at the end of the 13th century and in the following years it again became covered with gardens and vineyards as of old. [48] The magnetic study revealed that on the first day of the eruption a fall of white pumice containing clastic fragments of up to 3 centimetres (1.2 in) fell for several hours. [47] Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout. The first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius opened in 1880. It is likely that most, or all, of the known victims in this town were killed by the surges. The two most recent eruptions of Vesuvius (1875–1906 and 1913–1944) both lasted more than 30 years.[28]. Different perspectives and the damage caused to the local villages were recorded by USAAF photographers and other personnel based nearer to the volcano.[69]. Fearing for their lives, the population began to call to each other and move back from the coast along the road. It was later destroyed by the March 1944 eruption. Pliny's uncle Pliny the Elder was in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum, and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. Because magma is less dense than the solid rock around it, it was pushed upward. The volcano erupted again in 1631, six times in the 18th century (including 1779 and 1794), eight times in the 19th century (notably in 1872), and in 1906, 1929 and 1944. Atop this second mountain is a caldera, or crater, which was created following a previous eruption. Modern volcanologists use the term to describe large-volume, violent eruptions that produce quickly-expanding clouds of rock, ash and gases which rise many miles into the atmosphere. [24], The height of the main cone has been constantly changed by eruptions but was 1,281 m (4,203 ft) in 2010. There is a spiral walkway around the volcano from the road to the crater. Andesite lava creates explosive eruptions on a variety of scales, which makes Vesuvius an especially dangerous and unpredictable volcano. Small earthquakes started taking place four days before the eruption[44] becoming more frequent over the next four days, but the warnings were not recognized.[a]. then when it's safe, the Romans built around the pretty mountian, and BOOM occurred again. Many scholars since then have offered an etymology. Large Vesuvian eruptions which emit volcanic material in quantities of about 1 cubic kilometre (0.24 cu mi), the most recent of which overwhelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum, have happened after periods of inactivity of a few thousand years. Since 1750, seven of the eruptions of Vesuvius have had durations of more than 5 years, more than any other volcano except Etna. Vesuvius is a stratovolcano at the convergent boundary where the African Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate. Get Cameron out. Further tremors near dawn caused the population to abandon the village and caused disastrous wave action in the Bay of Naples. The eruption lasted two days. She also writes the Magma Cum Laude blog, and in what spare time she has left, she enjoys rock climbing and playing various stringed instruments. [42], The volcano ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6×105 cubic metres (7.8×105 cu yd) per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. Torrents of. Mount Vesuvius is approximately 17,000 years old. Though Pliny the Elder died, his friends ultimately escaped by land.[58]. Though the volcano's last eruption was in 1944, it still represents a great danger to the cities that surround it, especially the busy metropolis of Naples. As mentioned above, Mount Vesuvius is one of the volcanoes found in the Campanian volcanic arc. Mount Vesuvius was formed when the Eurasian and African plates collided about 25,000 years ago. His nephew declined to join the party. As the water-saturated sediments How Was Mount Vesuvius Formed. Violent eruptions in the late 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s created more fissures, lava flows, and ash-and-gas explosions. Vesuvius was active from 1913 through 1944, with lava filling the crater and occasional outflows of small amounts of lava. Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program Website. Additional blasts reinstituted the column. In 1984, 40,000 people were evacuated from the Campi Flegrei area, another volcanic complex near Naples, but no eruption occurred. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors. These volcanoes are all part of the same subduction zone which was created by the Eurasian and African tectonic plates converging. By late afternoon of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. [9], Vesuvius has a long historic and literary tradition. ", "An ancient Bronze Age village (3500 bp) destroyed by the pumice eruption in Avellino (Nola-Campania)", "Vesuvius' Next Eruption May Put Metro Naples at Risk – Lesson from Katrina is need to focus on "maximum probable hazard, "When Did Vesuvius Erupt? [68], The eruption could be seen from Naples. This structure has given its name to the term "somma volcano", which describes any volcano with a summit caldera surrounding a newer cone. [74], The volcano is closely monitored by the Osservatorio Vesuvio in Naples with extensive networks of seismic and gravimetric stations, a combination of a GPS-based geodetic array and satellite-based synthetic aperture radar to measure ground movement and by local surveys and chemical analyses of gases emitted from fumaroles. [62] What percentage these numbers are of the total dead or the percentage of the dead to the total number at risk remain completely unknown. By 2003, around 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100. Vesuvius is the only volcano on the European mainland that has erupted during the last century and is still active. The most recent eruption was in 1944 during World War II. From the 1631 eruption until 1944, there was a comparatively small eruption every few years, emitting 0.001–0.01 km³ of magma. Along with Pliny the Elder, the only other noble casualties of the eruption to be known by name were Agrippa (a son of the Herodian Jewish princess Drusilla and the procurator Antonius Felix) and his wife.[60]. Vesuvius is the only one to have erupted within recent history, although some of the others have erupted within the last few hundred years. Lv 6. Map by Geology.com and MapResources. Magma sitting in an underground chamber for many years will start to see higher melting point constituents such as olivine crystallizing out. Source(s): https://shrinke.im/a9a7B. [50] This period would have been the last opportunity to escape. Nearby Volcanoes: Etna, Stromboli. Her concentration is in volcanology, and she is currently researching lava dome collapses and pyroclastic flows. An inscription from Capua[10] to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter; that is, Jupiter Vesuvius. This photo was taken by Lancevortex and is distributed under a GNU Free Documentation License. They were never built again. The mountain has been ‘quiet’ for hundreds of years and is ‘covered with vineyards and gardens’. Vesuvius is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, a line of volcanoes that formed over a subduction zone created by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. Mount Vesuvius is a composite volcano. 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