Vesubio mont

The last day of Pompeii, by Karl Briulov between 1830 and 1833. Oil on canvas of 456.5 x 651 cm. exhibited at the St.Petersburg State Museum, Russia.

Mount Vesuvius (Italian: Monte Vesuvio; Latin: Mons Vesuvius) is an active volcano of the stratovolcano type located in front of the bay from Naples and about nine kilometers away from the city of Naples. It is located in the metropolitan city of Naples, belonging to the Italian region of Campania. It has a maximum height of 1281 m s. no. m. and rises to the south of the main chain of the Apennines.

It is famous for its eruption in AD 79. C., which has traditionally been dated on the night of August 24, although different studies and archaeological findings have proven that it must have happened in autumn or winter, specifically on October 24 . In this eruption several urban centers were buried, among them the cities of Pompeii and part of Herculaneum. After that episode, the volcano has erupted numerous times. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, since around three million people live in its surroundings, and several of its eruptions have been violent; It is the most densely populated volcanic area in the world. Furthermore, it is the only volcano located on the European mainland to have erupted in the 20th century. The other two Italian volcanoes that have erupted in recent centuries are found on islands: Etna in Sicily and Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands.

The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place in 1944, destroying a large part of the city of San Sebastiano.

The Greeks and Romans considered it a sacred place dedicated to the hero and demigod Heracles/Hercules, from whom the city of Herculaneum, located at the base of Mt. Vesuvius was designated as one of the 16 Decade Volcanoes, that is, as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.

Etymology

Historic Map of Vesuvius.

Vesuvius was the name of the volcano, used frequently by writers of the late Roman Republic. Its collateral forms were Vesaevus, Vesevus, Vesbius, and Vesvius. The ancient Greeks, writing it Οὐεσούιον or Οὐεσούιος, have since offered an etymology. Peoples of different ethnicities and languages occupied Campania in the Roman Iron Age; the etymology depends to a great extent on the presumption of the language that was spoken there at that time. Naples was a Greek settlement whose name, Nea-polis "new city", attests to it. The Latins also competed for the occupation of Campania. Etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Several ancient authors say that other towns of unknown origin were there at some point.

Assuming that the language was Greek, Vesuvius could be a Latinization of the negative prefix ὔ (ve), whose root comes from or is related to the Greek word σβέννυμι = "I put out, I quench (the fire)", in the sense of "unquenchable". It could be derived from ἕω, to throw, and βίη "violence," "throw, throw violently," *vesbia, taking advantage of its collateral form.

Other theories about its origin are:

• From the root protoindoeuropea, *eus-  *ewes- θ *(a)wes-, "brillar", in the sense of "the one that gives more light, more light", through the Latin or the osque.
• From the root protoindoeuropea *ves- which means "mountain".
• From the indo-European root *wes = "chimney" (compar with e.g. Vesta)

Physical description

Monte Vesuvius from satellite.

Mount Vesuvius and Gulf of Naples from Space (NASA).

Inside part of the crater of Mount Vesuvius

Naples and Mount Vesuvius from Space (NASA).

The topography is made up of two elements:

• Mount Somma to the north, partially surrounding the boiler, within which is the current cone, originated the boiler by the collapse of an earlier and higher structure.
• the “Great Cone” originated during the eruption of the year 79. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesubio.

The caldera began to form during an eruption around 17,000 (or 18,300) years ago, enlarged by ancient and violent eruptions concluding with that of 79. This structure has taken its name from the term "somma volcano" 34;, which describes the volcano with a caldera summit surrounded by a recent cone.

The height of the main cone has been constantly changed by eruptions, but is currently 1,281 m/s. no. m.. Mount Somma is 1149 m s. no. m. high, and is separated from the main cone by the Atrio di Cavallo valley, about 5 km long. The slopes of the mountain are marked by lava flows, with a lot of vegetation, with bushes at high levels and vineyards at low levels. Vesuvius is an active volcano, although its current activity produces mostly steam emanating from the cracks at the bottom of the crater.

Vesuvius is a composite volcano, located at the convergent boundary where the African plate begins to be subducted under the Eurasian plate. Its lava is composed of viscous andesite. Layers of lava, cinders, ash, and pumice make up the mountain. On the slopes there are two lava domes, which emerged in 1891 and 1895.

Fauna and flora

Mountain slopes are covered in lava flows, generally densely treed, with shrubs at high altitudes and vineyards at low altitudes. The lava flows from the 1944 eruption are visible as they are not covered by vegetation.

The fauna of the volcano is particularly interesting, with the presence of the dormouse, rare in Italy; the marten, the fox, the rabbit and the hare. More than 100 species of birds are found around Vesuvius, migrating and non-migrating, wintering and non-wintering. The most common species of reptiles are the green lizard, Masticophis (a genus of harmless snake) and the Turkish gecko. There are moths and moths, very colorful during the flowering period.

The flora of Vesuvius and Mount Somma vary according to the seasons, although they share common aspects, specifically the strong anthropization that characterizes the first slopes of the mountain. The difference is that the volcanic cone is drier and sunnier, with typical Mediterranean vegetation made up of artificial pine forests and holly trees; while Mount Somma is wetter, with vegetation similar to that of the Apennines, made up of chestnut, oak, alder, maple and holly.

The richness of the vegetation in the old lava flows is due to the rapid implantation of Stereocaulon vesuvianum, a gray, coral-like lichen that colonizes the cooled lavas and prepares the ground for the other lavas. floors. There are 906 registered species.

The Greek geographer Strabo explains what he believes are the causes of fertility in the area:

[...] the Mount Vesuvius is colonized in melting through very beautiful lands of cultivation, except on its top, flat almost all and unproductive; by its appearance it looks like ashes and shows cracks that open like pores on the surface, as if the fire had consumed them. [...] It could be conjectured that, in another time, this territory was pasture of flames, which housed craters of fire and that the fire ended up extinct because of lack of wood. Perhaps this is the cause of the fertility of its surroundings, as in the case of Catania, where the ash-covered part from the ashes thrown by the Etna fire has produced a very favorable land for the vine. [...] It contains a substance that greases both the glebas that are burnt and those that are producing fruits. [...] the soils with excess of this fat only served for burning, just as those that contain sulfurous substances, [...] after drying the fat and extinguishing the fire transforming into ashes they became very fruitful soils.

Strabon, Geography v.4.8

Training

Vesuvius was formed as a result of the collision of two tectonic plates, the African and the Eurasian. The first was forced under the second, reaching deep below the earth's crust. The crustal material was heated until it melted, forming magma. Since the magma is less dense than the solid rock around it, it is pushed up, seeking a weaker place on the Earth's surface, breaking it apart and forming the volcano.

Rashes

Eruption of 1822, illustration of George Julius Scrope.

It is famous for the eruption that in 79 buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, allowing them to be preserved intact until they were rediscovered in the 17th century XVI, although systematic excavations began in 1738 and 1748, respectively. Today both cities are archaeological sites that make it possible to investigate Roman culture and the life of cities that have remained unchanged since ancient times. The eruption of the year 79 is also the first historical description of a Vesuvian eruption, made by Pliny the Younger, shortly after it happened. Because of this, Vesuvian volcanoes are also known as Plinian, and thus, by extension, this type of eruption. Vesuvius has erupted many times and is today considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, due to the population of 3,000,000 people living in its vicinity, and Vesuvius's tendency to have explosive eruptions.

Other important eruptions are, sequentially, those of 472, 512, in 1631, six times in the 18th century, eight times in the 19th century (notably 1872), and in 1906, 1929, and 1944. There have been no eruptions since 1944. Eruptions varied greatly in severity, and were characterized by explosive outbursts. Sometimes the eruptions have been so large that the whole of southern Europe has been covered in ash; in 472 and in 1631, the ashes of Vesuvius fell on Constantinople (Istanbul), covering an approximate extension of about 1600 km. Since 1944, landslides from the crater have raised clouds of dust and ash, which have triggered false alarms of eruptions.

Before the year 79

Apennian mountains and Vesuvius from satellite (NASA).

The mountain began to form 25,000 years ago. Although the area has been subject to volcanic activity for at least 400,000 years, the lowest layer of 34,000-year-old eruptive material from Mount Somma lies at the very top: the Campanian ignimbrite, a rock formed by heterogeneous fragments carried by the pyroclastic flow, produced in the complex Plegrea plain, and which was the product of the Cordola pliniana eruption 25,000 years ago.

At this time a series of more intense lava flows began, with a succession of explosive eruptions interspersed between them. However, the type of eruption changed around 19,000 years ago with a sequence of large, explosive Plinian eruptions, the last of which was in AD 79. Since then, eruptions have been named after the tephra deposits they produce:

• The basic Pumite eruption (Pomici di Base) of 18 300 years ago (IVE 6), was probably the most violent of these eruptions and led to the original formation of the Somma boiler.
• The Pumita Verde eruption (Pomici verdoline) of 16 000 years ago (IVE 5), followed by a period in which there were several eruptions producing lava.
• The Mercato eruption (also known as Pomici Gemelle or Ottaviano) of 8000 years ago (IVE 6), then a small explosive eruption of about 11 000 years ago (called the Lagno Amendolare eruption).
• The Avellino eruption (Pomici di Avellino) of 3800 years ago (IVE 6), preceded by the eruptions of 5960 and 3580 BC, of the largest that Europe has known.
  The opening of the Avellino eruption was apparently 2 km east of the current crater. The eruption destroyed several villages of the Bronze Age. The excellently preserved remains of one of them were discovered in May 2001 near Nola by Italian archaeologists, with huts, ceramics, cattle and even animal and human footprints, and both bodies and skeletons. The residents abruptly left the village, leaving it buried under the pumita and ash, just as it would later occur in Pompeii. In 2006 Italian scientists reported the discovery of another similar episode also produced by the Avellino eruption in the same area and buried a small population of the Bronze Age towards 1780 B.C. Cabins, deserts and remains of goats and dogs buried at the time have been recovered, but only three human bodies. Both the disposition of these and the large number of traces of people and cows perfectly preserved under the ashes show that all the inhabitants of the region fled in the early stages of the volcanic eruption, something that would not happen almost 2000 years later.
  (in English)

The largest eruptions of 79 (IVE 5) and 1631 (IVE 4), with the increase of pyroclastic deposits distributed to the northwest of the crater, and with waves traveling up to 15 km from there, reached the area now occupied through Naples.

The volcano at that time entered a more frequent, but less violent, state of eruptions until the most recent Plinian eruption, which destroyed Pompeii.

The last of these eruptions could have been in 217 B.C. C. There were earthquakes in Italy during that year and the sun appeared clouded by a mist or dry fog. Plutarch wrote that the sky was on fire near Naples and Silius Italicus mentioned in his epic poem Punic that Vesuvius had thundered and produced flames worthy of Mount Etna in that year, although both authors wrote it about 250 years later. The icy core of Greenland proves that around this time there was relatively high acidity, which assumes that it was due to atmospheric causes, such as hydrogen sulfide.

The mountain was at this time quiet for hundreds of years and was described by Roman writers as covered with gardens and vineyards, except at the top for being steep. A step away, a great amphitheater of perpendicular precipices was a flat space large enough for the camp of the army of the gladiator Spartacus in 73 BC. C. This area was undoubtedly a crater. The mountain probably had only one summit at that time, judging by the fresco "Bacchus and Vesuvius" found in a Pompeian house, the (Casa del Centenario).

Several works written more than 200 years before the eruption of 79 describe the mountain as volcanic in nature, although Pliny the Elder did not describe it that way in his Naturalis Historia:

• The Greek historian Estrabon (c. 63 a. C.-24) described the mountain in Book V 4.8 of his Geography where it says that the top is flat for the most part, but totally unproductive and for its appearance it looks like ashes and shows some cracks of blackened stones on its surface and conjecture that this territory at some time was pasture of flames, which housed "craters of fire". He suggested that the fertility of the environment could be due to volcanic activity, as in Mount Etna. (See quote in the Fauna and Flora section).

• In Book II From Architectura, the architect Marco Vitruvio (c. 80-70 a. C. - ?) reported the fires that in his day existed abundantly under the mountain and that this had spitted fire to the surrounding fields. He made a description of the pompeyana pumita, formed by being burned other species of rocks.

• Diodore Sculle (c. 90–30 BC), another Greek historian who recounted in Book IV 21.5 of his Historical Library that the plain of Cimea (of Cime, Cumas, the Plain of Cumana), on the coast of Campania, was known as the Plain of Flegrea (Phlegraei Campi according to the Romans; flamenco, Hot, are the meanings in Greek) because of a hill, the Vesuvius, who had vomited a terrible fire, almost like the Etna and that there were signs of the fire that had burned in ancient times. The plain of Flegra (Phlégra) according to Greek mythology, and according to some sources, was one of the scenarios of the battle of Heracles and the Giants.

The area was then, as it is today, highly populated, with towns, cities, and small towns such as Pompeii, and its slopes were covered with vineyards and farms.

Eruption of the year 79

In the first century B.C. C., Pompeii was just one of the many cities located around the base of Mount Vesuvius. The area had a sizeable population made prosperous by the region's famous fertility. Of the many neighboring towns of Pompeii, the best known was Herculaneum. They were also damaged or destroyed during the 1979 eruption, which lasted about 19 hours, during which time the volcano released about 4 km³ of ash and rock over a large area to the south and southeast of the crater, with about 3 m of depth. Tephra falling on Pompeii. The white pumice ash associated with this eruption was primarily a composition of leucite and phonolite.

Titus was the emperor of Rome in the year 79.

Precursor Signs

The eruption of 79 was preceded by a powerful earthquake 17 years earlier, on February 5, 62, which caused general destruction around the Bay of Naples, and Pompeii in particular. Some of the damage had not been still repaired when the volcano erupted. However, this may have been a tectonic event rather than associated with the volcano's reawakening.

Another tiny earthquake occurred in '64; who was recalled by Suetonius in the biography of Nero, in the Life of the Twelve Caesars, and by Tacitus in Book XV of Annals. Earthquake that took place while Nero was in Naples performing a song for the first time in public in the Roman theater. Suetonius reminds us that the emperor continued to sing during the earthquake until he finished the song; Tacitus wrote that the theater collapsed shortly after being evacuated.

Eruption of the year 79.

The Romans got used to the weak earthquakes in the region. The naturalist Pliny the Younger wrote that they "were not particularly alarmed, tremors being frequent in Campania." At the beginning of August 1979 there were shocks. Small earthquakes began to take place on August 20, 79, becoming more frequent over the next four days, but the warnings went unheeded (it should be noted that the Romans did not know the concept of a volcano, only a vague idea). on mountains similar to Mount Etna, home of Vulcan), and on the afternoon of August 24, a catastrophic eruption of the volcano began. The eruption devastated the region, burying Pompeii and other towns. By chance, the date was that of the Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire.

Nature of the rash

The eruption of Vesuvius on August 24 and 25, 79 occurred in two phases: a Plinian eruption that lasted 18 to 20 hours and produced a shower of pumice to the south of the cone that increased the depth in 2.8 m in Pompeii by means of a pyroclastic flow, and a burning cloud in the second, a Pelucan phase that reached Misenum and was concentrated in the west and northwest. Two pyroclastic flows engulfed Pompeii, burning and suffocating any stragglers who remained there. Oplontis and Herculaneum received the brunt of the flows and were buried by ash and pyroclastic deposits.

The two Plinies

Pliny the Younger

The only reliable surviving eyewitness was Pliny the Younger, who described the event in a famous letter to the historian Tacitus. He observed it from Misenum (Latin: Misenum), (cape near Cumae and distant some 35 km from the volcano), while his uncle, the great naturalist Pliny the Elder, who was walking through dangerous terrain, saw an extraordinarily dense, changing and growing cloud appearing above the mountain:

He was in Miseno in command of the fleet. On August 24th, as at the seventh hour, my mother tells her that a strange cloud has appeared in the sky for its appearance and size. He had taken his accustomed sunbathing, then had a cold water bath, had eaten something tomb and at that time was studying; he asked for footwear, he went up to a place from which he could better contemplate that prodigy. The cloud arose without those who looked from afar could not safely find out what mountain (then it was known that it had been Vesuvius), showing a look and a form that reminded more of a pine than any other tree. For after rising up high as if it were the trunk of a very long tree, it opened as in branches; I imagine that this was because it had been thrown up by the first eruption; then, when the force of it had decayed, weakened or even overcome by its own weight, it dissipated at the width, sometimes of a white color, other dirty and stained because of the earth or ashes. My uncle, as a wise man he was, seemed to be an important phenomenon and deserved to be seen from closer.

Picture of the Vesuvius from a distance similar to that which Pliny the Young man had to observe on the day of the eruption and that he sends Tácito in one of his letters.

It is currently estimated that the eruptive column was more than 32 km high.

Then Pliny the Younger described the cloud rushing towards the slopes of the mountain and covering everything around it, including the coast. This is known today as a pyroclastic flow: a cloud of superhot gas, with ash and rock, erupting from a volcano. Geologists have used the magnetic characteristics of some 200 volcanic rocks and pieces of rubble (for example roof tiles) found at Pompeii to estimate the temperature of this pyroclastic flow (when molten and solidified rocks and magnetic minerals in the rocks record the direction of the field). Earth's magnetic field, if the material is heated to a certain temperature, known as the Curie point or (Tc), the magnetic field can be modified or completely recomposed). Many of the materials tested experience temperatures between 240°C and 340°C (with a few experiencing temperatures as low as 180°C). This indicates that the ash cloud reached a temperature of 850 °C when it emerged from the mouth of Vesuvius and cooled below 350 °C when it reached Pompeii. The theory is that the turbulence may have mixed cold air into the ash cloud. This is now called the Plinian state of the eruption, named after both Pliny, the Younger and the Elder.

Pliny the Younger stated that several earthquakes were felt at the time of the eruption and that they were followed by a very violent shaking of the ground. He also pointed out that the ash was falling in very thick layers and that the city was being evacuated, and that then the sun was covered by the eruption and that light gave way to darkness. Furthermore, that the sea was hidden and that it was contained by an "earthquake", a phenomenon that modern geologists call a tsunami.

Pliny the Elder

Volcanic rock and pumice stone.

Fresco called "Baco and the Vesuvius" found in the call Casa del Centenario in Pompeii. There is a representation of the Vesuvius covered with vegetation, as before the eruption of 79, the volcano had a single summit instead of the two current ones.

Pliny the Younger's uncle, Pliny the Elder, was meanwhile in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum, at the opposite end of the bay, and decided to charter several ships to investigate the phenomenon about to occur. The fleet also had the mission of rescuing those who remained at the foot of the volcano when, as they were about to leave, a messenger arrived with a letter from a friend of Pliny's who lived on the coast near the foot of the volcano imploring him to rescue her. He set out to cross the bay, but was met by thick showers of hot ash, bits of pumice, and chunks of rock that, altering the shoreline and the depths of the water, hampered his access to the shore and prevented him from disembarking. over there. The prevailing southerly wind also joined in preventing him from landing, but he continued south to Stabia (about 4.5 km from Pompeii), where he landed and took refuge from his friend Pomponianus. Pomponianus already had a ship loaded with his possessions and ready to depart, but the wind blew against him.

Pliny and his group saw flames coming from various parts of the mountain (probably waves of pyroclastic flows, which would later destroy Pompeii and Herculaneum). After staying overnight, the group decided to evacuate despite the tephra rain because if the threatening and violent earth continued there, the building would collapse. Pliny, Pomponianus, and their companions returned to the beach with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from the avalanche of rocks. At the same time, there was so much ash in the air that the party could barely see through the darkness and needed torches and lanterns to find their way. They reached the beach, but they found that the water, to top it off, interrupted them violently due to the continuous earthquakes, and ruled out safe escape by sea.

Pliny the Elder collapsed and died. In the first letter to Tacitus, his nephew insinuates that he was due to inhalation of poisons, sulfur or gases.

My uncle decided to go down to the beach and see the place if it was possible to go out by sea, but it was still violent and dangerous. There, lying on a canvas spread on the ground, my uncle repeatedly asked for cold water to drink. Then the flames and the smell of sulfur, the announcement that the fire was approaching, put in flight his companions, instead they encourage him to follow. By leaning on two young slaves he could stand up, but at the point he collapsed, because, as I suppose, the dense humareda prevented him from breathing and closed his larynx, which had a delicate and narrow birth and was often swollen. When the day returned (which was the third to count from the last one he had seen), his body was found intact, in perfect condition and covered with the garment he wore: the appearance of his body seemed more like that of a person resting than that of a deceased.

However, Estabia, who was 16 km from the caldera (more or less where the current city of Castellammare di Stabia is) and his companions, were apparently not affected by the fumes; probably given Pliny's corpulence, he died of a different cause, perhaps of a stroke or a heart attack. His body was found without apparent injuries on August 26. Since then the pen has sufficiently dispersed the story of him to the four winds.

Vesuvius in literature

The first systematic excavations carried out in the area began in 1748 under the auspices of King Charles VII of Naples, future Charles III of Spain. The writer Conde de Fernán Núñez wrote the following about the consequences:

Pompeii died in the great earthquake that occurred in Nero's time, on February 5, 63, in which Herculanum also suffered a lot, which was submerged by the lava and the ashes of Vesuvius in the great eruption that took place in August 4, 79, in time of Emperor Titus. This eruption is the one that described with the greatest elegance Pliny the Minor, who witnessed her eye, and whose uncle Plinio the Major, the naturalist (who was general of the Roman navy that always crossed the coasts of Sicily), perished in it, wanting to approach the land to help the unfortunate inhabitants of the hillsides. It was such the strength of this eruption and the amount of ashes that poured from itself the volcano, which not only came to Rome, but to Asia and Syria, and they just covered the ruins of Pompeii.

But those excavations began for reasons, which he well recounts in his testimony of what happened:

It was already a thousand six hundred forty-one years ago that Herculaneum was buried and no one thought to see it, when the Prince d'Elbeuf, who built a country house at the foot of the Vesuvius in 1720, seeking for it some marbles, found in the vicinity some already worked, who pawned him to look for others. Not only did he find them, but he discovered some ancient statues, which he gave to Prince Eugene of Saboya, and he continued to go out. But seeing King Charles who, according to all the ancient news, those ruins could be part of the two cities Pompeii and Herculanum, whose situation was: the first one towards the Torre del Greco and the second one between it and Naples; he believed that it was necessary all the power and means of a sovereign to make this discovery useful, that could so much interest the literature and the arts, and thus satisfying the prince their expenses and purchase Herculanum's excavation began in 1750. A few peasants found after this time the ruins of Pompeii.

Victims of the eruption

The inside of the crater.

It is estimated that between 10,000 and 25,000 people lived in Pompeii, while Herculaneum had only a population of about 5,000 inhabitants. It is not known exactly how many people perished in the eruption, although some 1,150 remains of bodies. To refine the figure, molds would have to be made with their impressions in the ash deposits and the surroundings of Pompeii. Remains of about 350 bodies have been found in Herculaneum (300 in vaulted crypts discovered in 1980). However, these numbers could indicate a huge and underestimated number of total deaths in the region affected by the eruption.

38% of the victims at Pompeii were found in ash deposits, most inside buildings. It is believed that they died mainly from collapsing roofs. Outside the buildings, a small number of victims were found, who probably died from falling tiles or large rocks thrown by Vesuvius. This differs from current experience, since in the last four hundred years only 4% of victims died from ashfall during explosive eruptions. The remaining 62% of the deceased found in Pompeii were due to the waves of pyroclastic deposits and, therefore, succumbed due to them; probably from a combination of suffocation, during ash inhalation, and from the blast wave and flying debris around him. In contrast to the victims found at Herculaneum, examination of the clothing, frescoes, and skeletons shows that high temperatures are unlikely to be a significant cause.

Herculano, much closer to the crater, was saved from the tephra avalanche thanks to the direction of the wind, although it was buried under 23 meters of material deposited by pyroclastic waves. It is probable that most (or all) of the victims of this city died from such waves, particularly from the evidence of the high temperatures found in the skeletons of the victims found in the vaulted crypts of the old port, and the existence of charred wood in many of the buildings.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were never rebuilt, although inhabitants of these cities survived and looters probably undertook intensive and savage work after the destruction caused by the volcano. The eruption changed the course of the Sarno River and raised the beach, which is why Pompeii today has no river or is adjacent to the coast.

The locations of the cities were forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in the 18th century. Vesuvius itself has undergone great changes: its slopes are devoid of vegetation and its summit has been greatly modified, due to the force of the eruption.

Date of eruption

The eruption of AD 79 was documented by contemporary historians and is universally accepted to have started on August 24. However, archaeological excavations at Pompeii indicate that the city was buried a couple of months later. For example, buried people were found wearing warm clothing, when in August they should be wearing light clothing. The fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October, while the summer fruit that should be typical of August was already sold, dried or canned. The fermented wine jars had been sealed, which took place towards the end of October. The coins found in the bag of a woman buried in ash included a commemorative piece that would have been minted at the end of September.

Latest eruptions

Eruption of 1872.

J.C. Dahl: The Vesuvius in Eruption (1826) - Painting.

Since the eruption in 79, Vesuvius has erupted some three dozen times. It erupted in 203, during the life of the historian Cassius Dio. In 472, he released such a volume of ash that the ash rain reached as far as Constantinople. The eruptions of 512 were so intense that the inhabitants of the slopes of Vesuvius were granted tax exemption by Theodoric the Great, the Gothic king of Italy. Subsequent eruptions were recorded in 787, 968, 991, 999, 1007, and 1036 with the first recorded lava flow. The volcano was inactive until the end of the 13th century and in the following years it was again covered with gardens and vineyards as it were in ancient times. Even inside the crater, which was filled in with clumps of bushes.

Vesuvius entered a new and particularly destructive phase in December 1631, when a major eruption buried many towns under lava flows, killing some 3,000 people. Torrents of boiling water were also ejected, adding to the devastation. Thereafter activity became almost continuous, with relatively large eruptions occurring in 1660, 1682, 1694, 1698, 1707, 1737, 1760, 1767, 1779, 1794, 1822, 1834, 1839, 1850, 1855, 1861, 1868, 1872, 1906, 1926, 1929, and 1944. The 1906 eruption was especially destructive, killing about 100 people and spewing the largest amount of lava ever recorded in a Vesuvian eruption. The largest eruption since 1906 was in March 1944, destroying the towns of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, Massa di Somma and part of San Giorgio in Cremano, as well as an entire squadron of 88 USAF B-25 bombers, during World War II. World.

The volcano has been inactive since 1944. In the past, for a few centuries, the state of inactivity has varied from 18 months to 7 and a half years, with the current period of calm being the longest in the last 500 years. The longer Vesuvius remains unerupted in the immediate future, the more likely it is that the danger posed for future eruptions will be much higher, in light of the volcano's tendency toward sudden and extremely violent explosions and the high density of human population around the mountain.

The future

The city of Naples with Vesuvius sleeping and watching the city.

The great Plinian eruptions that ejected amounts of magma to the nearest cubic kilometer, the most recent of which devastated Pompeii, have occurred after periods of inactivity of a few thousand years. Subplinian eruptions producing about 0.1 km³, such as the 472 and 1631 eruptions, have been more frequent within a few hundred years of each other. From the 1631 eruption to the 1944 eruption, every few years a comparatively small eruption has been seen to emit 0.001-0.01 km³ of magma. This seems to show that the amount of magma expelled by Vesuvius in an eruption is increasing and linearly at about 0.001 km³ each year. This gives an extremely approximate figure of 0.06 km³ per eruption after 60 years of inactivity.

Magma that has been stored in a magma chamber for many years will begin to rise, and the constituents with a higher melting point will begin to crystallize. The effect will be to increase the concentration of dissolved gases (mostly steam and carbon dioxide) in the remaining liquid magma, causing the eruption to be more violent. When gas-rich magma reaches the surface during an eruption, the enormous pressure drop caused by the decreasing weight of the overlying rock layer (which reaches zero at the surface) causes the gases to come out of solution, with the volume of the gas increasing explosively, from a minimum volume to one several times that of the accompanying magma. In addition, the removal of materials with a lower melting point will increase the concentration of felsic components, such as silicates, which can increase the viscosity of the magma, and confer an explosive character to the eruption.

Emergency plan

The emergency plan for an eruption therefore assumes that the worst possible scenario would be an eruption similar in size and type to that of 1631 (IEV 4). In this scenario, the slopes of Vesuvius, extending up to about 7 km from the cone, they would be exposed to pyroclastic flows that could sweep them away, while much of the surrounding area could experience tephra rain. Due to the prevailing winds, the cities to the south and east of the volcano are mostly at risk, and it is assumed that the accumulation of tephra may exceed 100 kg/m² -which entails the risk of roof collapse- and may danger extend as far as Avellino to the east and Salerno to the southeast. Heading north-west towards Naples, it is assumed that this dangerous tephra rain will hardly extend beyond the slopes of the volcano. The specific area actually affected by ash clouds will depend on the particular circumstances accompanying the eruption.

The emergency plan is designed to last between two weeks and twenty days, and provides for the evacuation of approximately 600,000 people, almost all of whom live in the zona rossa (&# 34;red zone"), given the enormous risk of pyroclastic flows. Evacuation by trains, ferries, cars and buses is planned to take place in around 7 days, with evacuees mainly being sent to other regions of the country rather than to other safe areas of the Campania, and may have to stay in them several months. However, the dilemma that the implementation of the plan could face is when to start the evacuation; if it starts too late, many people will die, and if it starts too early, the eruption could be a false alarm. In 1984, 40,000 people were evacuated from the Phlegrean Fields area, in another volcanic complex near Naples, but there was no eruption.

The red zone (in turn subdivided into 5 inter-municipal zones) extends for a radius of 200 km and includes 18 localities in the Vesuvian zone, which are the ones most at risk in the event of an eruption. The municipalities affected by the national plan are: Boscoreale, Boscotrecase, Cercola, Ercolano, Massa di Somma, Ottaviano, Pollena Trocchia, Pompeii, Portici, Sant'Anastasia, San Giorgio a Cremano, San Giuseppe Vesuviano, San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, Somma Vesuviana, Terzigno, Torre Annunziata, Torre del Greco and Trecase. Ongoing efforts are aimed at reducing the population residing in the "red zone" by demolishing illegally built buildings, establishing a national park around the upper sides of the volcano to prevent the construction of more buildings, and offering tax benefits to the people. to move. The goal is to reduce the time needed to evacuate the area, trying to achieve that in 20 or 30 years it can be done in two or three days.

The volcano is extensively monitored by the Vesuvian Observatory using a large network of seismic and gravimetric stations, in combination with a variety of GPS geodesics, satellites, and SAR synthetic aperture radars to measure ground motion, and with local measurements and chemical analysis of the gases emitted by the fumaroles. All this is designed to trace the magma below the volcano. So far, the magma was detected less than 10 km from the surface in 2001, despite the fact that the volcano was only in the early stages of preparation for an eruption. This state has not apparently changed significantly, and the temperature of the gases from the fumaroles descend, which makes it in a state of basic alertness.

Vesuvian Observatory

The Vesuvius Observatory (Osservatorio Vesuvio) is a public research institute under the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Since 2001 it is a branch of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, which is in particular responsible for monitoring the volcanic activity of the three volcanoes that threaten the Campania region, Mount Vesuvius, the Phlegrean Fields and Ischia.

It was founded in 1841 and is the oldest in the world in the field of volcanology. It was created by order of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. Its construction began in 1841 and ended in 1845. The main building was located on the slopes of the volcano, at an altitude of about 600 meters. Today, the old building has been transformed into a historical library, and the research center has moved to the Fuorigrotta neighborhood in Naples.

Activities

The old funicular railway

In 1870, the Hungarian engineer Ernesto Emanuele Oblieght entrusted Galanti, Sigl and Wolfart with the project of building a system that would allow one to climb to the top of Vesuvius while sitting comfortably. The three experts conceived a funicular whose construction was carried out by the engineer Emilio Olivieri from Milan. On December 21, 1878, the State granted Oblieght a concession of 9,700 m² for 30 years, with an amount of 150 lire per year, and obtained authorization to carry out his project. The works were completed a year and a half later at a cost of 43,5000 lire. On June 6, 1880, around 5:00 p.m., the Vesuvius funicular was inaugurated. At this time it was the only means of transportation that allowed you to climb an active volcano: 830 meters long, with a percentage of 45 to 63% unevenness in 390 m on the southwest face. On June 10 it was opened to the public.

On December 13, 1886, Oblieght ceded, as planned, the concession and management of the company for an amount of 1,200,000 lire to the French of the Vesuvius Funicular Limited Company. At that time, 300 tourists experienced the climb up the volcano every day. However, the company, in debt due to maintenance costs and low income, was forced to cede the concession to the Thomas Cook and Son Company, for 170,000 lire, on November 24, 1888. John Mason Cook, heir to the death of his father in 1892, he had to face financial pressures and sabotage by local guides. The new Pugliano-Vesuvio railway line, built in 1903, helped to double the number of tourists transported to the crater. The company had to replace the facility with a more modern one to increase its capacity: the number of seats went from 10 to 18

But the eruption of April 7 and 8, 1906 destroyed the departure and arrival stations, the restaurant, the equipment and the two new carriages, buried under 20 or 30 meters of ash. The railway line was damaged and the volcano transfigured. However, it was rebuilt and in 1909 a new funicular came into service, thanks to the project of Enrico Treiber. On March 12, 1911, a new eruption required, in a little less than a year, the repair of the upper station. The facility was back in full operation and spared the 1929 eruption. The Cook brothers retired in 1928, giving a portion of the business to the Vesuvius Railway Stock Company. Finally, after 1944, the irreparably damaged funicular was abandoned.

In 1951 a contract was agreed with Von Roll of Bern to build a chairlift, for only a third of the potential price of the funicular reconstruction, using the departure station. It was inaugurated on July 8, 1953 and was the first in Italy to present double seats, offering a capacity of 1000 people per day. It was stopped in 1984, after having transported around 100,000 tourists, half foreigners, because it was proven to be inappropriate for groups.

A reconstruction plan for the funicular, drawn up by the architect Nicola Pagliara, was approved in 1988. Work began in November 1991, but was stopped shortly afterwards, while the remains of the carriages from 1909 came to light.

Access and ascension

The summit of Vesuvius is open to visitors and there is a small network of trails around the mountain that is maintained by the park authorities.

It is possible to access it by a paved road of 13 kilometers from Ercolano, near the tollbooth of the Naples-Salerno motorway, up to a distance of 200 m from the top; although the last section can only be done on foot: there is a spiral path around the cone, from the road to the crater.

On May 23, 1990, the third stage of the Giro d'Italia finished at Vesuvius. The Spanish cyclist Eduardo Chozas won. In the 2009 Giro d'Italia, the penultimate stage also ended there, with the Spanish Carlos Sastre being the winner of said stage.

Environmental protection

The area of about 135 km² around Vesuvius was officially declared a national park on June 5, 1995 under the name Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio (Vesuvius National Park). The aim is to preserve fauna and flora, environmental associations, geological features, paleontological formations and biotopes in general. Its mission is also to manage and represent the anthropological, archaeological, historical and architectural heritage, education and research.

The park authorities face the difficulties of not respecting the laws that prohibit the construction of buildings in the protected area.

Agriculture and crafts

Pompei: fertile land at the foot of the volcano.

Agriculture is highly developed due to the mineral richness of the soil, good drainage and the Mediterranean climate. Among the numerous cultivated fruits are apricots (especially the species Pellecchiella, Boccuccia liscia, Boccuccia spinosa, Cafona and Carpone) and cherry (Ciliegia Malizia or Ciliegia del Monte), produced mainly at the foot of Mount Somma. Other typical products are Pomodorini da serbo, small round tomatoes with a slightly acidic taste due to the concentration of sugar and mineral salts. They are served dry (piennolo) or in sauce. Since Ancient Rome, the place is famous for its red, rosé and white wines: Falanghina of Vesuvius grapes, Coda di volpe (locally called Caprettone ), the Catalanesca, and the Piedirosso used to produce the wine Lachryma Christi ("tears of Christ"). From vegetables, fennel, green beans and broccoli (a variety of turnip top, locally called 'Friariélle') are grown, which serve as an accompaniment in the local cuisine. Nuts are produced: walnuts, chestnuts and hazelnuts. Honey production is very important.

Local crafts date back to antiquity and are often mixed with lively traditional art. He uses various materials and techniques: cameo coral, limestone and copper are mounted, carved, engraved and promoted internationally.

Geothermal energy

In 1987, the Italian company Agip perforated one of the slopes of Vesuvius to try to convert the internal heat of the volcano into electrical energy. Despite the depth of the excavation, which exceeded the base of the volcano, it did not no thermal source was captured. However, in 2001, magma was located 10 kilometers below the surface.

Complementary bibliography

• Galera, Andrés (2003). Science in the shadow of Vesuvius: Essay on the knowledge of Nature. Madrid: Higher Council for Scientific Research. ISBN 9788400081379.
• Bourseiller, Philippe (2001). Volcanos and men. Barcelona: Lunwerg. ISBN 9788477827870.
• VV. AA. (2004). Under the Vesuvius cholera: testimonies of Pompeii and Herculaneum at the time of Carlos III (Exhibition Catalogue). Valencia: Generalitat valenciana. ISBN 9788448237813.
• Guzzo, Pier Giovanni and Ambrossio, Antonio (2002). Pompei: guide to excavations. Napoli: Electa Napoli. ISBN 9788851000233.
• Pompei: history, life and art of the buried city. Barcelona: Gutenberg Galaxy. 2004. ISBN 9788481093896.
• Valledor de Loza, Arturo (2021). « Volcanic eruptions and Stoic philosophers». Quercus (430): 28-36. ISSN 0212-0054.