VESUVIUS

The city of Pompeii located 9.5 kilometers away from Vesuvius crater and 4.5 kilometers away from the foot of the volcano was buried under a layer of small particles of pumice stone 5-7 meters thick and covered by a sheet of volcanic ash. When it started to rain, this mass turned into liquid dirt, which later was solidified and formed a layer 1.5-6 meters thick. Another city, Herculaneum, located 7 kilometers away from the volcano’s crater and around 2 kilometers away from its foot, was buried under a layer of volcanic ash, the temperature of which was so high that all the wooden items were completely charred. Rain turned volcanic ash into volcanic dirt, which after getting solidified became very hard. On top everything was flooded by lava. The height of the volcanic layer in Herculaneum reached 12-23 meters.

In the coming centuries another 12 strong eruptions of Vesuvius occurred. In between them people again settled on the volcano’s fertile slopes. A strong eruption on 16 of December of 1631 sent down flows of lava, streams of hot gasses and another layer of volcanic ash, part of which fell on the earth 1300 kilometers away in Istanbul. Next serious eruptions happened in 1872, 1906, 1913 and 1927-1929. The last major eruption occurred on March 18 of 1944, when a lava stream destroyed San Sebasiano, Massa and Ottaviano settlements. 57 people died during the eruption. Lava fountain from the central crater was 800 meters high; a column of volcanic ash rose 9,000 meters above the volcano.

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