Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79
| 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius | |
|---|---|
Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum by John Martin
|
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| Volcano | Mount Vesuvius |
| Date | August 24–25 (probable), 79 AD |
| Type | Vesuvian |
| Location |
Campania, Italy 40°49′N 14°26′E / 40.817°N 14.433°ECoordinates: 40°49′N 14°26′E / 40.817°N 14.433°E |
| VEI | 5 |
| Impact | Buried the Roman settlements of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. |
The 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet. It is the namesake for Vesuvian eruptions.
Mount Vesuvius spewed forth a deadly cloud of tephra and gases to a height of 33 kilometres (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the most well known being Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The total inhabitants of the cities were 16,000–20,000; the remains of about 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the overall death toll is still unknown.
The 79 AD eruption was preceded by a powerful earthquake seventeen years before on February 5, 62 AD, which caused widespread destruction around the Bay of Naples, and particularly to Pompeii. Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted. The deaths of 600 sheep from "tainted air" in the vicinity of Pompeii, reported by Seneca the Younger, leads vulcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson to compare them to similar deaths of sheep in Iceland from pools of volcanic carbon dioxide and to speculate that the earthquake of 62 AD was related to new activity by Mount Vesuvius.
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