Pompeii and The Eruption of Vesuvius

      Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near moderen Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompeii. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 12 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

      By The 1st century AD, Pompeii was one of a number of towns near the base of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The area had a substantial population, which had grown prosperous from the region's renowned famously Herculaneum, also suffered damage or destruction during the 79 eruption. The eruption occurred on 24 August AD 79, just one day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire, including that from volcanoes.

      A multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study of the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ash suffocation. The result of the study, published in 201 show that exposure to at least 250 C (482 F) hot surges (known as pyroclastic flows) at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings.

      The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to 12 different layers of tephra, in total 25 meters (82.0 ft) deep, which rained down for about six hours Pliny the Younger provided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across the Bay of Naples at Misenum, in a version he wrote 25 years after the event. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologist have recognized the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling similar events "Plinian".

      After thick layer of ash covered Pompeii and Herculaneum, they were abandoned and eventually their names and locations were forgotten. The first time any part of them was unearthed was in 1599, when the digging of an underground channel to divert the river sarno ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. The architect Domenico Fontana was called in, hes unearthed a few more frescoes, then covered them over again, and nothing more came of the discovery. A wall inscription had mentioned a decurio Pompeii  ("the town councillor of Pompeii") but its reference to the long-forgotten Roman city was missed.


Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii