View source for Mount Vesuvius

{{short description|Active stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy}}
{{redirect|Vesuvius}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox mountain
| fetchwikidata = ALL
| name = Mount Vesuvius
| native_name = {{native name list |tag1=it|name1=Vesuvio |tag2=nap|name2=Vesuvio}}
| elevation_m = 1281
| prominence_m = 1232
| prominence_ref = <ref>{{cite web | url=https://worldribus.org/italian-peninsula-and-islands/ | title=Italian Peninsula & Islands - World Ribus | date=15 January 2025 }}</ref>
| listing = Ribu
| location = [[Campania]], Italy
| map = Italy
| map_caption =
| coordinates = {{coord|40|49|17|N|14|25|34|E|type:mountain_region:IT|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref =
| topo =
| type = [[Somma volcano|Somma]]–[[stratovolcano]]
| age = 25,000 years before present to 1944;
 age of volcano = {{circa|17,000}} years to present
| volcanic_arc = [[Campanian volcanic arc]]
| last_eruption = 17–23 March 1944
| first_ascent =
| easiest_route = Walk
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-caption = Location in [[Vesuvius National Park]]
| mapframe-zoom = 11
}}

'''Mount Vesuvius''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|s|uː|v|i|ə|s}} {{respell|və|SOO|vee|əs}}){{efn|name=fn1|{{langx|it|Vesuvio}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Vesuvio nell'Enciclopedia Treccani |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/vesuvio |website=treccani.it |access-date=7 February 2021 |language=it-IT}}</ref> {{IPA|it|veˈzuːvjo|}}; {{langx|nap|Vesuvio}} {{IPA|nap|vəˈsuːvjə|}}, also {{lang|nap|'a Muntagna}} {{IPA|nap|a munˈdaɲɲə|}} ("the Mountain");<ref>{{cite web |editor-last=Grasso |editor-first=Alfonso |title=Il Vesuvio |trans-title=Vesuvius |url=http://www.ilportaledelsud.org/vesuvio01.htm |website=ilportaledelsud.org |date=2007 |access-date=8 February 2021 |language=it}}</ref> {{langx|la|Vesuvius}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Castiglioni |first1=Luigi |last2=Mariotti |first2=Scevola |title=Vocabolario della lingua latina : IL : latino-italiano, italiano-latino / Luigi Castiglioni, Scevola Mariotti; redatto con la collaborazione di Arturo Brambilla e Gaspare Campagna |publisher=Loescher |edition=4th |year=2007 |page=1505 |isbn=978-8820166601 |language=it}}</ref> {{IPA|la|wɛˈsʊwi.ʊs|}}, also {{lang|la|Vesevius}}, {{lang|la|Vesvius}} or {{lang|la|Vesbius}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vesuvio o Vesevius nell'Enciclopedia Treccani |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/vesuvio-o-vesevius |website=treccani.it |access-date=8 February 2021 |language=it}}</ref>}} is a [[Somma volcano|somma]]–[[stratovolcano]] located on the [[Gulf of Naples]] in [[Campania]], [[Italy]], about {{convert|9|km|mi|abbr=on}} east of [[Naples]] and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several [[volcano]]es forming the [[Campanian volcanic arc]]. Vesuvius consists of a large [[volcanic cone|cone]] partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit [[caldera]], resulting from the collapse of an earlier, much higher structure.

The [[eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD]] destroyed the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] cities of [[Pompeii]], [[Herculaneum]], [[Oplontis]], [[Stabiae]] and other settlements. The eruption ejected a cloud of [[Volcanic rock|stones]], [[Volcanic ash|ash]] and [[volcanic gas]]es to a height of {{convert|33|km|mi|abbr=on}}, [[Volcanic eruption|erupting]] [[Lava|molten rock]] and pulverized [[pumice]] at the rate of {{convert|6e5|m3|yd3}} per second.<ref>{{cite book|title=Modeling Volcanic Processes: The Physics and Mathematics of Volcanism|first=Andrew W.|last=Woods|chapter=Sustained explosive activity: volcanic eruption columns and hawaiian fountains|editor1-first=Sarah A.|editor1-last=Fagents|editor2-first=Tracy K. P.|editor2-last=Gregg|editor3-first=Rosaly M. C.|editor3-last=Lopes|editor3-link=Rosaly Lopes |page=158|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2013|isbn=978-0521895439}}</ref> More than 1,000 people are thought to have died in the eruption, though the exact toll is unknown. The only surviving witness account consists of two letters by [[Pliny the Younger]] to the historian [[Tacitus]].<ref name=epistularum/>

Vesuvius has erupted many times since. It is the only volcano on Europe's mainland to have erupted in the last hundred years. It is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because 3,000,000 people live near enough to be affected by an eruption, with at least 600,000 in the danger zone. Eruptions tend to be violent and explosive; these are known as [[Plinian]] eruptions.<ref name=mcguire2003>{{cite news |last=McGuire |first=Bill |title=In the shadow of the volcano |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/oct/16/research.highereducation2 |work=The Guardian |date=16 October 2003 |access-date=8 May 2010}}</ref>

==Mythology==
Vesuvius has a long historic and literary tradition. It was considered a divinity of the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] type at the time of the eruption of AD 79: it appears under the inscribed name Vesuvius as a serpent in the decorative [[fresco]]s of many {{lang|la|[[lararia]]}}, or household shrines, surviving from [[Pompeii]]. An inscription from [[Capua]]<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] x.1, 3806 = {{cite book |editor1-last=Mommsen |editor1-first=Theodorus |title=Inscriptiones Bruttiorum, Lucaniae, Campaniae, Siciliae, Sardiniae Latinae. Pars Prior: Inscriptiones Bruttiorum Lucaniae Campaniae |series=Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum |volume=X.1 |date=1883 |publisher=Georgius Reimerus |location=Berolini |page=380 |doi=10.1515/9783112610220-011}}</ref> to {{lang|la|Iovi Vesuvio}} indicates that he was worshipped as a power of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]; that is, ''Jupiter Vesuvius''.<ref>{{harvnb|Waldstein|Shoobridge|1908|p=97}}</ref>

The Romans regarded Mount Vesuvius as being devoted to [[Hercules]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kozák |first1=Jan |last2=Cermák |first2=Vladimir |chapter=Vesuvius-Somma Volcano, Bay of Naples, Italy |title=The Illustrated History of Natural Disasters |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |pages=45–54 |isbn=978-90-481-3325-3 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-3325-3_3}}</ref> The historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] relates a tradition that Hercules, in the performance of his labors, passed through the country of nearby [[Cumae]] on his way to [[Sicily]] and found there a place called "the Phlegraean Plain" ({{lang|grc|[[Phlegraean Fields|Φλεγραῖον πεδίον]]}}, 'fiery'), "from the mountain which of old spouted forth a huge fire [...] the mountain is called Vesuvius."<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' 4.21.5 = {{cite book |editor1-last=Oldfather |editor1-first=C. H. |title=Diodorus of Sicily: The Library of History: Books II.34–IV.58 |series=Loeb Classical Library |volume=303 |date=1935 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=410–411 |doi=10.4159/DLCL.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933}}</ref> It was inhabited by giant bandits, "the sons of the Earth. With the gods' assistance, he pacified the region and continued. The facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether {{lang|la|[[Herculaneum]]}} was named after it. An [[epigram]] by the poet [[Martial]] in AD 88 suggests that both [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the region devastated by the eruption of 79.<ref>{{harvnb|Waldstein|Shoobridge|1908|p=108}} re Epigram IV line 44.</ref>

{{Wide image|Naples from the Castello Sant Elmo with Abbazia San Martino the port and the Vesuv.jpg|600px|City of Naples with Mount Vesuvius viewed from the [[Castel Sant'Elmo]]}}

==Etymology==
{{lang|la|Vesuvius}} was a name of the volcano in frequent use by the authors of the late [[Roman Republic]] and the early [[Roman Empire]]. Its [[synonym|collateral forms]] were {{lang|la|Vesaevus}}, {{lang|la|Vesevus}}, {{lang|la|Vesbius}} and {{lang|la|Vesvius}}.<ref name=Lewis>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Vesuvius |last1=Lewis |first1=Charlton T. |last2=Short |first2=Charles |encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=Vesuvius&highlight=vesuvius |publisher=[[The Perseus Project]], [[Tufts University]] |location=[[Medford, Massachusetts]] |orig-year=1879 |year=2010}}</ref> Writers in ancient Greek used {{lang|grc|Οὐεσούιον}} or {{lang|grc|Οὐεσούιος}}. Many scholars since then have offered an [[etymology]]. Given that peoples of varying ethnicity and language occupied [[Campania]] during the [[Roman Iron Age]], the etymology depends to a large degree on the presumption of what language was spoken there at the time. Naples was settled by Greeks, as the name ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Nea-polis}}'', "New City", testifies. The [[Oscans]], an [[Italic languages|Italic]] people, lived in the countryside. The [[Latin language|Latins]] also competed for the occupation of Campania. [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] settlements were in the vicinity. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors.

Some theories about its origin are:
* From Greek {{lang|grc|οὔ}} = 'not' prefixed to a root from or related to the Greek word {{lang|grc|σβέννυμι}} = 'I quench', in the sense of 'unquenchable'.<ref name=Lewis/><ref>{{cite book |title=Vesuvius |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48517 |first=John |last=Phillips|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48517/page/n103 7]–9 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1869}}</ref>
* From Greek {{lang|grc|ἕω}} = 'I hurl' and {{lang|grc|βίη}} 'violence' → 'hurling violence', {{lang|und|vesbia|proto=yes|italic=yes}}, taking advantage of the collateral form.<ref>{{cite book |last=Charnock |first=Richard Stephen |title=Local etymology, a derivative dictionary of geographical names |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_I2BulY4WvsYC |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_I2BulY4WvsYC/page/n249 289] |location=London |publisher=Houlston and Wright |year=1859}}</ref>
* From an [[Indo-European]] root, {{lang|ine-x-proto|eus-}} < {{lang|ine-x-proto|ewes-}} < {{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|h₁ews-|proto=yes|italic=yes}}, 'shine', 'burn', sense "the one who lightens', through [[Latin]] or [[Oscan]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pokorny |first=Julius |author-link=Julius Pokorny |title=eus, awes |encyclopedia=Indogermanisches etymologisches Woerterbuch |editor1-last=Lubotsky |editor1-first=A. |editor2-last=Starostin |editor2-first=G. |date=1998–2003 |orig-year=1959 |language=de |location=Leiden |publisher=Leiden University |url=http://indogermanisch.org/pokorny-etymologisches-woerterbuch/eus.htm}}</ref>
* From an [[Indo-European]] root {{lang|ine-x-proto|wes}} = '[[hearth]]' (compare e.g. [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]])

==Topography==
[[File:Vesuvius volcano in Italy 20110808 aerial view 1.jpg|thumb|The main cone of Vesuvius and the cliff of Monte Somma's caldera separated by the ''Inferno'' and ''Gigante'' valley]]
Vesuvius is a "humpbacked" peak, consisting of a large [[Volcanic cone|cone]] ({{lang|it|Gran Cono}}) partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit [[caldera]] caused by the collapse of an earlier (and originally much higher) structure called [[Mount Somma]].<ref name="OS storia">{{cite web |title=Summary of the eruptive history of Mt. Vesuvius |url=http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/storia.htm |publisher=Osservatorio Vesuviano, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology |access-date=8 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203041501/http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/storia.htm <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=3 December 2006}}</ref> The Gran Cono was produced during the A.D. 79 eruption. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesuvius or '''Somma-Vesuvio'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Geology and Vulcanology {{!}} Vesuvius National Park |url=https://www.parconazionaledelvesuvio.it/en/the-volcano/geology-and-vulcanology/ |website=Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio |access-date=27 April 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The caldera started forming during an eruption around 17,000–18,000 years ago<ref>{{cite web |title=Vesuvius, Italy |url=http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_vesuvius.html |work=Volcano World |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705060119/http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_vesuvius.html |archive-date=5 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Scenta">{{cite web |title=The world's top volcanoes |url=http://www.scenta.co.uk/nature/volcanoes/volcanoes_worldwide.cfm |publisher=Scenta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826063343/http://www.scenta.co.uk/nature/volcanoes/volcanoes_worldwide.cfm |archive-date=26 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="OS Pomici di Base">{{cite web |title=The Pomici Di Base Eruption |url=https://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/pomici_base.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022134001/http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/pomici_base.htm<!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=22 October 2006 |access-date=8 December 2006 |work=Osservatorio Vesuviano, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology}}</ref> and was enlarged by later [[Types of volcanic eruptions#Eruption mechanisms|paroxysmal]] eruptions,<ref name="global volcanism">{{cite gvp |vn=211020 |title=Vesuvius |access-date=8 December 2006}}</ref> ending in the one of AD 79. This structure has given its name to the term "[[somma volcano]]", which describes any volcano with a summit caldera surrounding a newer cone.<ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of somma volcano |url=http://www.volcanolive.com/somma.html |work=Volcano Live |access-date=11 December 2006}}</ref>

The cliffs forming the northern ridge of Monte Somma's caldera rim reach a maximum height of {{convert|1132|m|ft|abbr=on}} at Punta Nasone. The summit of the main cone of Vesuvius is {{convert|1281|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level and more than {{convert|400|m|ft|abbr=on}} above the {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} long valley of Atrio di Cavallo (the northern floor of Monte Somma's caldera).

The volcano's slopes are scarred by lava flows, while the rest are heavily vegetated, with scrub and forests at higher altitudes and [[vineyard]]s lower down.

==Formation==
[[File:Sommer, Giorgio (1834-1914) - n. 1167 - Napoli - Panorama (2).jpg|thumb|Famous view of Vesuvius and the historic [[Pine of Naples]] overlooking the city of Naples in the 19th century, by [[Giorgio Sommer]]]]
Vesuvius is a stratovolcano and was formed as a result of the collision of two [[tectonic plate]]s, the [[African plate|African]] and the [[Eurasian plate|Eurasian]]. The former was [[subducted]] at a [[convergent boundary]] beneath the latter, deeper into the earth. As the water-saturated sediments of the African oceanic plate were pushed to hotter depths inside the planet, the water boiled off and lowered the melting point of the [[upper mantle]] enough to partially melt the rocks. Because magma is less dense than the solid rock around it, it was pushed upward. Finding a weak spot at the Earth's surface, it broke through, thus forming the volcano.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

The volcano is one of several forming the [[Campanian volcanic arc]]. Others include [[Campi Flegrei]], a large [[caldera]] a few kilometers to the north-west, and [[Ischia]], a volcanic island {{convert|20|km}} to the west, and several undersea volcanoes to the south. The arc forms the southern end of a larger chain of volcanoes produced by the [[subduction]] process described above, which extends northwest along the length of Italy as far as [[Monte Amiata]] in Southern [[Tuscany]]. Vesuvius is the only one to have erupted in recent history, although some of the others have erupted within the last few hundred years. Many are either extinct or have not erupted for tens of thousands of years.

==Eruptions==
[[File:Procession des reliques de Saint Janvier en 1822.jpg|thumb|''[[Procession of Saint Januarius During an Eruption of Vesuvius]]'' by [[Antoine Jean-Baptiste Thomas]], 1822]]
Mount Vesuvius has erupted many times. Numerous others preceded the eruption in AD 79 in prehistory, including at least three significantly larger; an example is the [[Avellino eruption]] around 1800 BC, which engulfed several Bronze Age settlements. Since AD 79, the volcano has also erupted repeatedly, in 172, 203, 222, possibly in 303, 379, 472, 512, 536, 685, 787, around 860, around 900, 968, 991, 999, 1006, 1037, 1049, around 1073, 1139, 1150, and there may have been eruptions in 1270, 1347, and 1500.<ref name = "global volcanism"/>
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. There have been no eruptions since 1944, and none of the eruptions after AD 79 were as large or destructive as the Pompeian one.

The eruptions vary greatly in severity but are characterized by explosive outbursts of the kind dubbed [[Plinian]] after [[Pliny the Younger]], a Roman writer who published a detailed description of the AD 79 eruption, including his uncle's death.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pliny the Younger |title=Vol. IX, Part 4: Letters |publisher=Bartleby |year=1909 |editor-last=Eliot |editor-first=Charles W. |series=The Harvard Classics |location=New York |chapter=6.16 |chapter-url=https://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1065.html}}{{verify source|date=April 2021|reason=Cite is inconsistent, letter 6 is "To Attius Clemens", letter 16 is "To Catilius Severus", URL links to "LXV. To Tacitus".}}</ref> On occasion, eruptions from Vesuvius have been so large that the whole of southern Europe has been blanketed by ash; in 472 and 1631, Vesuvian ash fell on [[Constantinople]] ([[Istanbul]]), over {{convert|1200|km}} away. A few times since 1944, [[volcanic landslide|landslides]] in the crater have raised clouds of ash dust, raising false alarms of an eruption.
[[File:Mount Vesuvius; a volcanic eruption at the foot of the mount Wellcome V0025260.jpg|thumb|Lava flows from Vesuvius in 1760]]
[[File:Alessandro D'Anna - Eruzione del Vesuvio.jpg|thumb|The eruption of Vesuvius in 1794]]
Since 1750, seven of the eruptions of Vesuvius have had durations of more than five years; only [[Mount Etna]] has had as many long-duration eruptions in the last 270 years.<ref name="GVPDatabase2020-12">{{citation | url=https://volcano.si.edu/faq/index.cfm?question=longesteruptions | title=What volcanoes have had the longest eruptions? | publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] | department=Global Volcanism Program – Volcanoes of the World (Version 4.9.2) | editor-last=Venzke | editor-first=E. | date=10 December 2020 | doi=10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013 | access-date=15 December 2020| url-access=subscription }}</ref> The two most recent eruptions of Vesuvius (1875–1906 and 1913–1944) each lasted more than 30 years.<ref name="GVPDatabase2020-12" />

Vesuvius is still regarded as an active volcano, although its current activity produces little more than sulfur-rich steam from vents at the bottom and walls of the crater.

Layers of [[lava]], [[volcanic ash|ash]], [[scoria]] and [[pumice]] make up the volcanic peak. Their mineralogy is variable, but generally [[silica]]-undersaturated and rich in [[potassium]], with [[phonolite]] produced in the more explosive eruptions<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.volcanotrek.com/vesuvius_volcano.htm |title=Vesuvius |work=volcanotrek.com |access-date=29 October 2010}}</ref> (e.g. the eruption in 1631 displaying a complete stratigraphic and petrographic description: phonolite was firstly erupted, followed by a [[tephritic phonolite]] and finally a phonolitic [[tephrite]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stoppa|first1=Francesco|last2=Principe|first2=Claudia|last3=Schiazza|first3=Mariangela|last4=Liu|first4=Yu|last5=Giosa|first5=Paola|last6=Crocetti|first6=Sergio|date=15 March 2017|title=Magma evolution inside the 1631 Vesuvius magma chamber and eruption triggering|journal=Open Geosciences|volume=9|issue=1|pages=24–52|doi=10.1515/geo-2017-0003|issn=2391-5447|bibcode=2017OGeo....9....3S|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Volcanic explosivity index===
According to the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[Global Volcanism Program]], Vesuvius has had 54 confirmed eruptions during the [[Holocene Epoch]] (the last 11,700 years). A [[volcanic explosivity index]] (VEI) has been assigned to all but one of these eruptions.<ref name="Smithsonian_GVP_VEI">{{cite web | url=https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211020 | title=Vesuvius – Eruption History | publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] | department=[[Global Volcanism Program]], Volcanoes of the World, version 4.11.0 (08 June 2022) | date=2013 | accessdate=7 August 2022 | editor-last=Venzke | editor-first=E.}}</ref>

{{Bar chart
| title       = Volcanic explosivity index for Vesuvius
| label_type  = VEI
| data_type   = Number of [[Holocene]] eruptions for which a VEI has been assigned (total=53)
| bar_width   = 35
| width_units = em
| data_max    = 80
| label1   = VEI-0
| data1    = 2
| label2   = VEI-1
| data2    = 2
| label3   = VEI-2
| data3    = 7
| label4   = VEI-3
| data4    = 29
| label5   = VEI-4
| data5    = 8
| label6   = VEI-5
| data6    = 5
}}

===Before AD 79===
[[File:Vesuvius (erupting), Brooklyn Museum Archives.jpg|thumbnail|Vesuvius erupting (before 1923)]]

Scientific knowledge of the geologic history of Vesuvius comes from [[core sample]]s taken from a {{convert|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}} plus borehole on the flanks of the volcano, extending into [[Mesozoic]] rock. Cores were dated by [[K–Ar dating|potassium–argon]] and [[argon–argon dating]].<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|Cole|Duncan|Chester|2003|p=45}}</ref> The area has been subject to volcanic activity for at least 400,000 years; the lowest layer of eruption material from the Somma caldera lies on top of the 40,000-year‑old [[Campanian ignimbrite]] produced by the [[Campi Flegrei]] complex. The volcanic complex stands on a large, sedimentary plain.<ref name="Evolution" />
* 25,000 years ago: Vesuvius started forming in the Codola [[Plinian eruption]].<ref name="OS storia"/>
* Vesuvius was then built up by a series of lava flows, with some smaller explosive eruptions interspersed between them. By this time, the volcano was 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) tall, with the summit being 500 meters (1,640 feet) east of the current summit.<ref name="Evolution" /><ref name="caldera">{{cite journal |last1=Cioni |first1=Raffaello |last2=Santacroce |first2=Roberto|last3=Sbrana |first3=Alessandro |title=Pyroclastic deposits as a guide for reconstructing the multi-stage evolution of the Somma-Vesuvius Caldera |journal=Bulletin of Volcanology |date=September 1999 |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=207–222 |doi=10.1007/s004450050272 |bibcode=1999BVol...61..207C |s2cid=140646538 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225377119 |access-date=June 20, 2022}}</ref>
* About 19,000 years ago: the style of eruption changed to a sequence of large explosive and caldera-forming Plinian eruptions, of which the AD 79 one was the most recent. The calderas are aligned in a roughly east–west direction, and all contributed to forming present-day's Somma caldera.<ref name="Evolution" /> The eruptions are named after the [[tephra]] deposits produced by them, which in turn are named after the place where the deposits were first identified:<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|Cole|Duncan|Chester|2003|p=47}}</ref><ref name="Evolution" />
* 18,300 years ago: the Basal Pumice (Pomici di Base) eruption, [[VEI]]&nbsp;6, the original formation of the Somma caldera. The caldera's formation was asymmetric towards the west.<ref name="Evolution" /><ref name="caldera" /> The eruption was followed by a period of much less violent, lava-producing eruptions.<ref name="OS Pomici di Base"/>
* 16,000 years ago: the Green Pumice (Pomici Verdoline) eruption, VEI 5.<ref name="OS storia"/>
* Around 11,000 years ago: the Lagno Amendolare eruption, smaller than the Mercato eruption.
* 8,000 years ago: the [[Mercato eruption]] (Pomici di Mercato) – also known as Pomici Gemelle or Pomici Ottaviano, [[VEI]] 6.<ref name="OS storia"/>
* Around 5,000 years ago: two explosive eruptions smaller than the Avellino eruption.
* 3,800 years ago (19th century BC): the [[Avellino eruption]] (Pomici di Avellino), VEI 6; its vent was apparently {{convert|2|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of the current crater and the eruption destroyed several [[Bronze Age]] settlements of the [[Apennine culture]], including ancient [[Afragola]].<ref>Halpin, Danny. [https://talker.news/2022/10/11/village-found-that-was-preserved-by-mount-vesuvius-eruption-2000-years-before-pompeii "Village found that was preserved by Mount Vesuvius eruption 2,000 years before Pompeii"], ''Talker News'', October 11, 2022</ref> Several [[carbon dating|carbon dates]] on wood and bones offer a range of possible dates of about 500 years in the mid-2nd millennium BC. In May 2001, near [[Nola]], Italian archaeologists using the technique of filling every cavity with plaster or substitute compound, recovered some remarkably well-preserved forms of perishable objects, such as fence rails, a bucket and especially in the vicinity, thousands of human footprints pointing into the Apennines to the north. The settlement had huts, pots and goats. The residents had hastily abandoned the village, leaving it to be buried under [[pumice]] and [[Volcanic ash|ash]] in much the same way that Pompeii and Herculaneum were later preserved.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.meridies-nola.org/nola/villaggiopreistoricoing.htm |title=An ancient Bronze Age village (3500 bp) destroyed by the pumice eruption in Avellino (Nola-Campania) |first= Claude Albore |last=Livadie |publisher=Meridie |access-date=8 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618235308/http://www.meridies-nola.org/nola/villaggiopreistoricoing.htm |archive-date=18 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Ellen Goldbaum |url=http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=78030009 |title= Vesuvius' Next Eruption May Put Metro Naples at Risk |date=6 March 2006 |publisher=State University of New York |access-date=8 December 2006}}</ref> [[Pyroclastic surge]] deposits were distributed to the northwest of the vent, travelling as far as {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} from it, and lie up to {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} deep in the area now occupied by [[Naples]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/avellino.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918021855/http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/avellino.htm |archive-date=18 September 2010 |title=Pomici di Avellino eruption |work=Osservatorio Vesuviano, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology |access-date=8 December 2006}}</ref>
* The volcano then entered a stage of more frequent, but less violent eruptions, until the most recent [[Plinian eruption]], which destroyed [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]]. Evidence of these eruptions comes from badly preserved [[ash fall|ashfall]] deposits that have been dubitatively assigned to either the Somma-Vesuvius complex, or the [[Phlegrean fields]].<ref name="Evolution">{{cite journal |last1=Sbrana |first1=Alessandro |last2=Cioni |first2=Rafaello |last3=Marianelli |first3=Paola |last4=Andronico |first4=Daniele |last5=Pasqiuni |first5=Giuseppe|title=Volcanic Evolution of the Somma-Vesuvius Complex (Italy). |journal=Journal of Maps |date=January 2020 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=137–147 |doi=10.1080/17445647.2019.1706653 |bibcode=2020JMaps..16..137S |s2cid=214427328 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338386723 |access-date=June 16, 2022|doi-access=free |hdl=2158/1191867 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
* The last of these may have been in 217 BC.<ref name="global volcanism"/> There were earthquakes in Italy during that year and the sun was reported as being dimmed by gray haze or dry fog. [[Plutarch]] wrote of the sky being on fire near Naples, and [[Silius Italicus]] mentioned in his epic poem ''[[Punica (poem)|Punica]]''<ref>{{cite journal |author=Stothers, R.B. |year=2002 |title=The case for an eruption of Vesuvius in 217 BC (abstract) |journal= Ancient Hist. Bull. |volume=16 |pages=182–185 |last2=Klenk |first2=Hans-Peter}}</ref><ref>''[[Punica (poem)|Punica]]'' VIII 653–655 "Aetnaeos quoque contorquens e cautibus ignes / Vesvius intonuit, scopulisque in nubila iactis / Phlegraeus tetigit trepidantia sidera vertex." ["Also Vesuvius thundered, throwing Etna-like fires from its crags, and its flaming summit, throwing rocks into the clouds, touched the trembling stars"]</ref> that Vesuvius had thundered and produced flames worthy of Mount Etna in that year. However, both authors were writing around 250 years later. Greenland [[ice core]] samples of around that period show relatively high acidity, which is assumed to have been caused by atmospheric [[hydrogen sulfide]].<ref name="Volcanoes in Human History">{{cite book | title=Volcanoes in Human History | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2002 |author1=de Boer |author2=Jelle Zeilinga & Sanders |author3=Donald Theodore | isbn=978-0-691-05081-2}}</ref>
[[File:Pompeii - Casa del Centenario - MAN.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Fresco]] of [[Bacchus]] and [[Agathodaemon]] with Mount Vesuvius, as seen in [[Pompeii]]'s House of the Centenary]]
* The volcano was then quiet (for 295 years, if the 217 BC date for the last previous eruption is true) and was described by [[Roman literature|Roman]] writers as having been covered with gardens and [[vineyard]]s, except at the top, which was craggy. The volcano may have had only one summit at that time, judging by a wall painting, "Bacchus and Vesuvius", found in a Pompeian house, the [[House of the Centenary]] (''Casa del Centenario'').
Several surviving works written over the 200&nbsp;years preceding the AD 79 eruption describe the mountain as having had a volcanic nature, although Pliny the Elder did not depict the mountain in this way in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'':<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+toc|author=Pliny the Elder|title=The Natural History|translator1=John Bostock|translator2=Henry Thomas Riley |translator-link2=Henry Thomas Riley|name-list-style=amp}}</ref>
* The Greek historian [[Strabo]] ({{Circa|63 BC|24 AD}}) described the mountain in Book V, Chapter 4 of his ''[[Geographica]]''<ref>{{cite book |author=Strabo |chapter=Book V Chapter 4 |title=Geography |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html}}</ref> as having a predominantly flat, barren summit covered with sooty, ash-coloured rocks, and suggested that it might once have had "craters of fire". He also perceptively suggested that the fertility of the surrounding slopes may be due to volcanic activity, as at Mount Etna.
* In Book II of {{lang|la|[[De architectura]]}},<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Vitruvius Pollio |chapter=Book II |title=de Architectura |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/2*.html}}</ref> the architect [[Vitruvius]] ({{Circa|80–70 BC}} –?) reported that fires had once existed abundantly below the peak and that it had spouted fire onto the surrounding fields. He described Pompeiian [[pumice]] as having been burnt from another species of stone.{{confusing|bullet point|date=September 2022}}
* [[Diodorus Siculus]] ({{Circa|90 BC|30 BC}}), another Greek writer, wrote in Book IV of his ''Bibliotheca Historica'' that the Campanian plain was called fiery (''Phlegrean'') because of the peak, Vesuvius, which had spouted flames like Etna and showed signs of the fire that had burnt in ancient history.<ref name="Uni Rome Somma-Vesuvius">{{cite web |url=http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/vesuviustext.html |title=Somma-Vesuvius |work=Department of Physics, University of Rome |access-date=8 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110412141328/http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/vesuviustext.html |archive-date=12 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Eruption of AD 79===
{{main|Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD}}
In AD 79, Vesuvius erupted in one of the [[List of natural disasters by death toll|most catastrophic]] eruptions of all time. Historians have learned about the eruption from the [[Witness|eyewitness]] account of [[Pliny the Younger]], a Roman administrator and poet.<ref name=BBCportents /> Several dates are given in the surviving copies of the letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/when-did-vesuvius-erupt-august-october-24/|title=When Did Vesuvius Erupt? The Evidence for and against August 24|first1=Kenneth|last1=Lapatin|first2=Alina|last2=Kozlovski |date=23 August 2019|publisher=Getty Museum|work=The Iris}}</ref> The latest evidence supports earlier findings and indicates that the eruption occurred after 17 October.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45874858|title=Pompeii: Vesuvius eruption may have been later than thought|date=16 October 2018|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

The volcano ejected a cloud of [[Volcanic rock|stones]], [[Volcanic ash|ashes]] and [[volcanic gas]]es to a height of {{convert|33|km|mi|abbr=on}}, [[Volcanic eruption|spewing]] [[Lava|molten rock]] and pulverized [[pumice]] at the rate of {{convert|6e5|m3|yd3}} per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the [[thermal energy]] released by the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings]].<ref name=sciencepompeii>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865531,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081214131422/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865531,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 14 December 2008|title=Science: Man of Pompeii|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=15 October 1956|access-date=4 February 2011}}</ref> The cities of [[Pompeii]] and [[Herculaneum]] were destroyed by [[pyroclastic surge]]s and the ruins buried under tens of metres of [[tephra]].<ref name=sciencepompeii/><ref name=BBCportents>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_portents_01.shtml |title=Pompeii: Portents of Disaster|publisher=[[BBC History]]| first =Andrew | last = Wallace-Hadrill|date= 15 October 2010|access-date=4 February 2011}}</ref>

====Precursors and foreshocks====
The AD 79 eruption was preceded by a [[62 Pompeii earthquake|powerful earthquake in 62]], which caused widespread destruction around the Bay of Naples, and particularly to Pompeii.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martini |first=Kirk |title= Patterns of Reconstruction at Pompeii |date=September 1998 |publisher=Pompeii Forum Project, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH), University of Virginia | chapter = 2: Identifying Potential Damage Events |chapter-url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/struct/pompeii/patterns/sec-02.html }}</ref> Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted.<ref name= VisitingPompeii /> The deaths of 600 sheep from "tainted air" in the vicinity of Pompeii indicates that the earthquake of AD 62 may have been related to new activity by Vesuvius.{{sfn |Sigurdsson|2002|p=35 | ps =, on Seneca the Younger, ''Natural Questions'', 6.1, 6.27.}}

The Romans grew accustomed to minor earth tremors in the region; the writer [[Pliny the Younger]] even wrote that they "were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania". Small earthquakes started taking place four days before the eruption<ref name=VisitingPompeii>{{cite web | url = http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa-2/world-features/visiting-pompeii.htm | title = Visiting Pompeii – AD 79 – Vesuvius explodes | first = Rick | last = Jones | work = Current Archeology | year = 2004–2010 | publisher = Current Publishing | location = London | access-date = 27 May 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120308100010/http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa-2/world-features/visiting-pompeii.htm | archive-date = 8 March 2012}}</ref> becoming more frequent over the next four days, but the warnings were not recognized.{{efn|name=fn2|The dates of the earthquakes and of the eruption are contingent on a final determination of the time of year, but there is no reason to change the relative sequence.}}

====Scientific analysis====
[[File:Mt Vesuvius 79 AD eruption.svg|left|thumb|Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as other cities affected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The black cloud represents the general distribution of ash, pumice and cinders. Modern coast lines are shown.]]
Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted two days. The morning of the first day was perceived as normal by the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger. In the middle of the day, an explosion threw up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during this time. At some time in the night or early the next day, [[pyroclastic surge]]s in the close vicinity of the volcano began. Lights were seen on the peak, interpreted as fires. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives. The flows were rapid-moving, dense and very hot, knocking down, wholly or partly, all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the coastline. Additional light tremors accompanied these and a mild [[tsunami]] in the Bay of Naples. By late afternoon of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly.

The latest scientific studies of the ash produced by Vesuvius reveal a multi-phase eruption.<ref>{{harvnb|Sigurdsson|2002}}</ref> The initial major explosion produced a column of ash and pumice ranging between {{convert|15|and|30|km|ft}} high, which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum upwind. The chief energy supporting the column came from the escape of steam superheated by the magma, created from seawater seeping over time into the deep faults of the region, which interacted with magma.

Subsequently, the cloud collapsed as the gases expanded and lost their capability to support their solid contents, releasing it as a pyroclastic surge, which first reached Herculaneum but not Pompeii. Additional blasts reinstituted the column. The eruption alternated between Plinian and Peléan six times. Surges 3 and 4 are believed by the authors to have buried Pompeii.<ref>{{harvnb|Sigurdsson|Carey|2002|pp=42–43}}</ref> Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout.

Another study used the magnetic characteristics of over 200 samples of roof-tile and plaster fragments collected around Pompeii to estimate the equilibrium temperature of the pyroclastic flow.<ref>{{harvnb|Zanella|Gurioli|Pareschi|Lanza|2007|p=5}}</ref> The magnetic study revealed that on the first day of the eruption a fall of white pumice containing clastic fragments of up to {{convert|3|cm|in}} fell for several hours.<ref>{{harvnb|Zanella|Gurioli|Pareschi|Lanza|2007|p=3}}</ref> It heated the roof tiles up to {{convert|140|C}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Zanella|Gurioli|Pareschi|Lanza|2007|p=12}}</ref> This period would have been the last opportunity to escape.

The collapse of the Plinian columns on the second day caused pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) that devastated Herculaneum and Pompeii. The depositional temperature of these pyroclastic surges reached up to {{convert|300|C}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Zanella|Gurioli|Pareschi|Lanza|2007|p=13}}</ref> Any population remaining in structural refuges could not have escaped, as gases of incinerating temperatures surrounded the city. The lowest temperatures were in rooms under collapsed roofs, at approximately {{convert|100|C}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Zanella|Gurioli|Pareschi|Lanza|2007|p=14}}</ref>

====The two Plinys====
The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian [[Tacitus]].<ref name=epistularum>{{cite book|author=C. Plinii Caecilii Secundi|title= Epistularum|section=Liber Sextus; 16 & 20 |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.ep6.html |publisher=The Latin Library}}</ref> Pliny the Younger describes, amongst other things, the last days in the life of his uncle, [[Pliny the Elder]]. Observing the first volcanic activity from [[Misenum]] across the Bay of Naples from the volcano, approximately {{convert|35|km}}, the elder Pliny launched a rescue fleet and went himself to the rescue of a personal friend. His nephew declined to join the party. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences.<ref name=Pliny1>{{cite book|author=Pliny the Younger|editor=Charles W. Eliot|chapter=LXV. To Tacitus |series=The Harvard Classics|year=2001|orig-year=1909–14|title=Vol. IX, Part 4: Letters|location=New York |publisher=Bartelby|chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1065.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author1=Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus ([[Pliny the Younger]])|title=LETTERS OF PLINY|page=LXV|website=Letters of Pliny |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2811/2811-h/2811-h.htm#link2H_4_0065|via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |access-date=3 October 2016 |date=September 2001}}</ref> In a second letter, the younger Pliny details his own observations after the departure of his uncle.<ref name=Pliny2>{{cite book|author=Pliny the Younger |editor=Charles W. Eliot|chapter=LXVI. To Cornelius Tacitus|series=The Harvard Classics|year=2001 |orig-year=1909–14|title=Vol. IX, Part 4: Letters|location=New York|publisher=Bartelby |chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1066.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author1=Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus ([[Pliny the Younger]])|title=LETTERS OF PLINY|page=LXVI|website=Letters of Pliny |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2811/2811-h/2811-h.htm#link2H_4_0066|via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |access-date=3 October 2016 |date=September 2001}}</ref>

The two men saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the peak. This cloud and a request by a messenger for an evacuation by sea prompted the elder Pliny to order rescue operations in which he sailed away to participate. 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. Further tremors near dawn caused the population to abandon the village and caused disastrous [[tsunami|wave action]] in the [[Bay of Naples]].

A massive black cloud with lightning obscured the early-morning light, a scene Pliny describes as [[sheet lightning]]. The cloud obscured Point Misenum near at hand and the island of Capraia ([[Capri]]) across the bay. Fearing for their lives, the population began to flee the shore along the road. An ash rain fell, causing Pliny to shake it off periodically to avoid being buried. Later that same day, the pumice and ash stopped falling, and the sun shone weakly through the cloud, encouraging Pliny and his mother to return to their home and wait for news of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, was in command of the [[Roman Navy|Roman fleet]] at Misenum and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Tascius<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/pompeii/PlinyLetters.htm|title=Pliny Letter 6.16|access-date=11 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511070405/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/pompeii/PlinyLetters.htm|archive-date=11 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano, explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue. Pliny ordered the immediate launching of the fleet galleys to the evacuation of the coast. He continued in his light ship to the rescue of Rectina's party.

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. Advised by the helmsman to turn back, he stated, "Fortune favors the brave" and ordered him to continue to [[Stabiae]] (about 4.5&nbsp;km from Pompeii).

Pliny the Elder and his party saw what they believed to be flames coming from several parts of the crater. After staying overnight, the party was driven from the building by an accumulation of material, presumably tephra, which threatened to block all egress. They woke Pliny, who had been napping and emitting loud snoring. They elected to take to the fields with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from the raining debris. They approached the beach again, but the wind prevented the ships from leaving. Pliny sat down on a sail that had been spread for him and could not rise, even with assistance, when his friends departed. Though Pliny the Elder died, his friends ultimately escaped by land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/pliny.htm |author=Fisher, Richard V. |collaboration=and volunteers |title=Derivation of the name "Plinian" |department=The Volcano Information Center |publisher=University of California at Santa Barbara, Department of Geological Sciences |access-date=15 May 2010}}</ref>

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. However, Stabiae was 16&nbsp;km from the vent (roughly where the modern town of [[Castellammare di Stabia]] is situated), and his companions were unaffected by the volcanic gases. It is more likely that the corpulent Pliny died from another cause, such as a stroke or heart attack.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture19/lec19.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718082232/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture19/lec19.html |archive-date=18 July 2012 |title=Lecture 19: Greek, Carthaginian and Roman Agricultural Writers |work=History of Horticulture |year=2002 |first=Jules |last=Janick |publisher=Purdue University |access-date=15 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His body was found with no apparent injuries the next day, after dispersal of the plume.

====Casualties====
[[File:Pompeii&Vesuvius.JPG|thumb|Pompeii, with Vesuvius towering above]]

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 (daughter of Agrippa I)|Drusilla]] and the procurator [[Antonius Felix]]) and his wife.<ref>{{cite book|first=Flavius|last=Josephus|author-link=Josephus|title=Jewish Antiquities |section= xx.7.2|orig-date=94 AD<!-- 94 AD is the real date --> |title-link=Jewish Antiquities}} Also known to have been mentioned in a section now lost.</ref>

By 2003, around 1,044&nbsp;casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100.<ref name="Episodes">{{cite journal |journal= Episodes |volume= 26 |date= September 2003 |title= The eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD and its impact on human environment in Pompei |first1= Lisetta |last1= Giacomelli |first2= Annamaria |last2= Perrotta |first3= Roberto |last3= Scandone |first4= Claudio |last4= Scarpati |issue= 3 |pages= 235–238 |doi= 10.18814/epiiugs/2003/v26i3/014 |doi-access= free }}</ref> The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pompeii/herculaneum_2.asp | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090318012551/http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pompeii/herculaneum_2.asp | archive-date = 18 March 2009 | title = Pompeii, Stories from an eruption: Herculaneum | year=2007|publisher = The Field Museum of Natural History |location=Chicago | work = Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei| access-date = 12 May 2010}}</ref> What percentage these numbers are of the total dead or the percentage of the dead to the total number at risk remain unknown.

Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings. These are thought to have been killed mainly by roof collapses, with the smaller number of victims found outside of buildings probably being killed by falling roof slates or by larger rocks thrown out by the volcano. The remaining 62% of remains found at Pompeii were in the pyroclastic surge deposits,<ref name="Episodes" /> and thus were probably killed by them – probably from a combination of suffocation from inhaling ashes and blast and debris thrown around. Examination of cloth, frescoes and skeletons shows that, in contrast to the victims found at Herculaneum, it is unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause of the destruction at Pompeii. Herculaneum, much closer to the crater, was saved from tephra falls by the wind direction but was buried under {{convert |23|m}} of material deposited by pyroclastic surges. Likely, most of the known victims in this town were killed by the surges.

People in Herculaneum, caught on the former seashore by the first surge, died of thermal shock. The rest were concentrated in arched chambers at a density of as high as three persons per square metre. As only {{convert|85|m|ft}} of the coast have been excavated, further casualties may be discovered.

===Later eruptions from the 3rd to the 19th centuries===
{{See also|1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius}}[[File:Dankaerts-Historis-9322.tif|thumb|[[1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius|Eruption of 16 December 1631]]. [[Joachim von Sandrart]] and [[Matthias Merian]] in Danckerts ''Historis'', 1642.]]
[[File:Joseph Wright of Derby - Vesuvius from Portici.jpg|right|thumb|[[Vesuvius in Eruption (Wright painting)|An eruption of Vesuvius seen from Portici]], by [[Joseph Wright of Derby|Joseph Wright]] ({{Circa|1774–6}})]]
Since the eruption of AD 79, Vesuvius has erupted around three dozen times.
* It erupted again in 203, during the lifetime of the historian [[Cassius Dio]].
* In 472, it ejected such a volume of ash that ashfalls were reported as far away as [[Constantinople]] (760&nbsp;mi.; 1,220&nbsp;km).
* The eruptions of 512 were so severe that those inhabiting the slopes of Vesuvius were granted exemption from taxes by [[Theodoric the Great]], the [[Goths|Gothic]] king of Italy.
* Further eruptions were recorded in 787, 968, 991, 999, 1007 and 1036 with the first recorded [[lava flows]].

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 old. Even the inside of the crater was moderately filled with shrubbery.
* Vesuvius entered a new phase in December 1631, when a major eruption buried many villages under lava flows, killing around 3,000 people. Torrents of [[lahar]] were also created, adding to the devastation. Activity thereafter became almost continuous, with relatively severe 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.

===Eruptions in the 20th century===
[[File:Vesuvius (erupting) Circa April 5, 1926.webm|thumb|Vesuvius erupting (seen from the surrounding caldera wall) {{circa}} 5 April 1926]]
[[File:Mt Vesuvius Erupting 1944.jpg|left|thumb|upright|The March 1944 eruption of Vesuvius, by Jack Reinhardt, [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24]] tail gunner in the [[USAAF]] during [[World War II]]]]
* The eruption of 5 April 1906<ref name=nyt060406>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/04/06/102421540.pdf Vesuvius Causes Terror; Loud Detonations and Frequent Earthquakes], The New York Times, 6 April 1906</ref><ref name=nyt070406>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/04/07/101838227.pdf Vesuvius Threatens Destruction Of Towns; Bosco Trecase Abandoned], The New York Times, 7 April 1906</ref> killed more than 100 people and ejected the most lava ever recorded from a [[Vesuvian eruption]]. Italian authorities were preparing to hold the [[1908 Summer Olympics]] when Mount Vesuvius violently erupted, devastating the city of [[Naples]] and surrounding [[comunes]]. Funds were diverted to reconstructing Naples, and the Games were transferred to London.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 November 2010 |title=London 1908: A short-notice replacement for Rome |url=https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/london-1908-a-short-notice-replacement-for-rome |access-date=24 May 2025 |website=www.olympics.com}}</ref> 
* Vesuvius was active from 1913 through 1944, with lava filling the crater and occasional outflows of small amounts of lava.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research|volume=58|issue=1|year=1993|pages=5–25|title=Mount Vesuvius: 2000 years of volcanological observations|first1=Roberto|last1=Scandone|first2=Lisetta|last2=Giacomelli|first3=Paolo|last3=Gasparini|url=http://shadow.eas.gatech.edu/~dufek/PhysVolc2011/Notes_Reading_files/Scandone_Vesuvius_1993.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810123937/http://shadow.eas.gatech.edu/~dufek/PhysVolc2011/Notes_Reading_files/Scandone_Vesuvius_1993.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-10 |url-status=live|bibcode=1993JVGR...58....5S|doi=10.1016/0377-0273(93)90099-D}}</ref>
* That eruptive period ended in the major eruption of March 1944, which destroyed the villages of [[San Sebastiano al Vesuvio]], [[Massa di Somma]], and [[Ottaviano]], and part of [[San Giorgio a Cremano]].<ref>{{Cite video|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bsmv6PyKs0| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/1bsmv6PyKs0| archive-date=2021-10-30|title= Mt Vesuvius erupts near Naples, Italy in 1944|people=Stevens, Robert |medium= The Travel Film Archive|publisher=Castle Films, YouTube |location=Naples|year=1944}}{{cbignore}}</ref> From 13 to 18 March 1944, activity was confined within the rim. Finally, on 18 March 1944, lava overflowed the rim. Lava flows destroyed nearby villages from 19 March through 22 March.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/1944eng.html| title= The eruption of vesuvius of March 1944| work= Esplora i Vulcani Italiani| date= 1996–2009| author= Giacomelli, L.| author2= Scandone, R.| publisher= Dipartimento di Fisica E. Amaldi, Università Roma Tre| access-date= 9 May 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091230060643/http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/1944eng.html| archive-date= 30 December 2009| url-status=dead}}</ref> On 24 March, an explosive eruption created an ash plume and a small [[pyroclastic flow]].

In March 1944, the [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) [[340th Bombardment Group]] was based at [[Pompeii Airfield]] near [[Terzigno]], Italy, just a few kilometres from the eastern base of the volcano. The tephra and hot ash from multiple days of the eruption damaged the fabric control surfaces, the engines, the [[Plexiglas]] windscreens and the gun turrets of the 340th's [[B-25 Mitchell]] medium bombers. Estimates ranged from 78 to 88 aircraft destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Mount Vesuvius Eruption of March 1944|first=Don|last=Kaiser|url=http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/Vesuvius.html|access-date=13 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103062745/http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/Vesuvius.html|archive-date=3 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:340th Bombardment Group B-25 Mitchell covered with ash from Mount Vesuvius.jpg|upright|thumb|Ash being swept off a wing of an American [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell]] medium bomber of the 340th Bombardment Group on 23 March 1944 after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius]]

The eruption could be seen from Naples. Different perspectives and the damage caused to the local villages were recorded by USAAF photographers and other personnel based nearer to the volcano.<ref>{{cite web|title=Melvin C. Shaffer World War II Photographs|url=http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOBOX1=vesuvius&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=%2Fmcs|publisher=Central University Library (CUL), Southern Methodist University (SMU)}}</ref>

===Future===
Large Vesuvian eruptions which emit volcanic material in quantities of about {{convert|1|km3}}, the most recent of which overwhelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum, have happened after periods of inactivity of a few thousand years. Sub-Plinian eruptions producing about {{convert|0.1|km3}}, such as those of 472 and 1631, have been more frequent with a few hundred years between them. From the 1631 eruption until 1944, there was a comparatively small eruption every few years, emitting 0.001–0.01&nbsp;km<sup>3</sup> of magma. For Vesuvius, the amount of magma expelled in an eruption increases roughly linearly with the interval since the previous one, and at a rate of around {{convert|0.001|km3}} for each year.<ref name="Italian Volcanoes">{{cite book| title=Italian Volcanoes| publisher=Terra Publishing| year=2001 |author1=Kilburn, Chris  |author2=McGuire, Bill |name-list-style=amp | isbn=978-1-903544-04-4}}</ref> This gives an approximate figure of {{convert|0.08|km3}} for an eruption after 80&nbsp;years of inactivity.

Magma sitting in an underground [[magma chamber|chamber]] for many years will start to see higher melting point constituents such as [[olivine]] crystallizing out. The effect is to increase the concentration of dissolved gases (mostly [[sulfur dioxide]] and [[carbon dioxide]]) in the remaining liquid magma, making the subsequent eruption more violent. 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. Additionally, the removal of the higher melting point material will raise the concentration of [[felsic]] components such as [[silicate]]s, potentially making the magma more [[viscous]], adding to the explosive nature of the eruption.

[[File:Naplesbay01.jpg|thumb|left|The area around the volcano is now densely populated.]]
The government emergency plan for an eruption therefore assumes that the worst case will be an eruption of similar size and type to the 1631 [[VEI]] 4<ref>{{cite web | url= http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/VESUVIO_1631-1944.html | title= Activity of Vesuvio between 1631 and 1799 | work= Esplora i Vulcani Italiani | date= 1996–2009 | author= Giacomelli, L. | author2= Scandone, R. | publisher= Dipartimento di Fisica E. Amaldi, Università Roma Tre | access-date= 9 May 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110119185809/http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/VESUVIO_1631-1944.html | archive-date= 19 January 2011 | url-status= dead }}</ref> eruption. In this scenario, the volcano's slopes, extending out to about {{convert|7|km}} from the vent, may be exposed to pyroclastic surges sweeping down them, whilst much of the surrounding area could suffer from tephra falls. Because of [[prevailing winds]], towns and cities south and east of the volcano are most at risk from this. It is assumed that tephra accumulation exceeding {{convert|100|kg/m²}}—at which point people are at risk from collapsing roofs—may extend out as far as [[Avellino]] to the east or [[Salerno]] to the south-east. Near Naples, this tephra fall hazard is assumed to extend barely past the volcano's slopes to the northwest.<ref name = "Italian Volcanoes"/> The specific areas affected by the ash cloud depend upon the circumstances surrounding the eruption.

The plan assumes between two weeks and 20 days notice of an eruption and foresees the [[emergency evacuation]] of 600,000&nbsp;people, almost entirely comprising all those living in the ''[[Vesuvius red zone|zona rossa]]'' ("red zone"), i.e. at greatest risk from pyroclastic flows.<ref name=mcguire2003/><ref name = "USA today 21-10-03"/> 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. However, the dilemma that would face those implementing the plan is when to start this massive evacuation: If it starts too late, thousands could be killed, whereas if it is started too early, the indicators of an eruption may turn out to be a [[false alarm]]. In 1984, 40,000&nbsp;people were evacuated from the [[Campi Flegrei]] area, another volcanic complex near Naples, but no eruption occurred.<ref name = "USA today 21-10-03"/>

[[File:The crater of Vesuvius in 2012 (composite photograph).jpg|thumb|The crater of Vesuvius in 2012]]

Ongoing efforts are being made by the government at various levels (especially of [[Campania]]) to reduce the population living in the red zone, by demolishing illegally constructed buildings, establishing a national park around the whole volcano to prevent the future construction of buildings<ref name="USA today 21-10-03">{{cite news | url= https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-10-20-vesuvius-usat_x.htm | title= Italians trying to prevent a modern Pompeii | first = Ellen | last = Hale | newspaper = [[USA Today]] | date = 21 October 2003 |access-date = 8 May 2010 | publisher = Gannett Co. Inc.}}</ref> and by offering sufficient financial incentives to people for moving away.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,3604,970446,00.html |title=Italy ready to pay to clear slopes of volcano|first=Sophie|last=Arie|date=5 June 2003|newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=12 May 2010}}</ref> One of the underlying goals is to reduce the time needed to evacuate the area, over the following twenty to thirty years (i.e. by 2023–2033), to two or three days.<ref>{{cite conference| url = http://www.ewc2.org/upload/downloads/Gasparini2003AbstractEWC2.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090927120148/http://www.ewc2.org/upload/downloads/Gasparini2003AbstractEWC2.pdf| archive-date = 27 September 2009| title = Early Warning of Volcanic eruptions and Earthquakes in the Neapolitan area, Campania Region, South Italy (Submitted Abstract)| first = Paolo| last = Gasparini| author2 = Barberi, Franco |author3= Belli, Attilio| date = 16–18 October 2003| conference = Second International Conference on Early Warning (EWCII)| conference-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081009131249/http://www.ewc2.org/pg000001.htm| location = Bonn, Germany| access-date = 8 May 2010| url-status=dead}}</ref>

The volcano is closely monitored by the [[Osservatorio Vesuvio]] in Ercolano 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 [[geophysical survey|surveys]] and chemical analyses of gases emitted from [[fumarole]]s. All of this is intended to track magma rising underneath the volcano.

The official INGV monitoring bulletin from the Vesuvius Observatory, as of July 2024, classifies Mount Vesuvius at a '''Green Alert Level'''. This indicates a state of low volcanic activity. The surveillance system has not detected any significant changes in Vesuvius' activity state. The low-energy earthquakes are attributable to gravitational [[subsidence]] activity of rocks inside the crater.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.ov.ingv.it/index.php/stato-attuale | title= Official INGV monitoring bulletin of Mount Vesuvius| location=Naples|publisher = Osservatorio Vesuviano, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology | access-date =31 August 2024}}</ref>

==National park==
[[File:Drahtseilbahn auf den Vesuv, Wagen Etna.jpg|thumb|''"Etna"'', one of a pair of early [[funicular]] cable cars on Mount Vesuvius; the other cable car of the pair was named ''"Vesuvio"''; about 1900]]

The area around Vesuvius was officially declared a [[Vesuvius National Park|national park]] on 5 June 1995.<ref>{{cite web|title=The National Park|url=http://www.vesuvioinrete.it/e_parco.htm|publisher=Vesuvioinrete.it|date=2001–2010|access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref> 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. There is access by road to within {{convert|200|m}} of the summit (measured vertically), but after that, access is on foot only. There is a spiral walkway around the volcano from the road to the crater.

==Funicular==

Mount Vesuvius' first [[funicular]] – a type of vertical transport that uses two opposing, interconnected, rail-guided passenger cars always moving in concert – opened in 1880, subsequently destroyed by the March 1944 eruption.

"[[Funiculì, Funiculà]]", a [[Neapolitan language]] song, was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are the lyrics and translation of 'Funiculì, Funiculà'? |url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/funiculi-funicula-neapolitan-english-song-lyrics/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Classic FM |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Volcanoes|Italy|Europe}}
* [[Battle of Mount Vesuvius]]
* [[List of volcanic eruptions by death toll]]
* [[List of volcanoes in Italy]]
* [[List of stratovolcanoes]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Guest |first1=John |last2=Cole |first2=Paul |last3=Duncan |first3=Angus |last4=Chester |first4=David |title=Volcanoes of Southern Italy |publisher=The Geological Society |location=London |year=2003 |section=Chapter 2: Vesuvius |pages=25–62}}
* {{cite book |title=The natural history of Pompeii |editor-first=Wilhelmina Mary Feemster |editor-last=Jashemski |editor2-first=Frederick Gustav |editor2-last=Meyer |contribution=Mount Vesuvius before the Disaster |first=Haraldur |last=Sigurdsson |location=Cambridge UK |publisher=The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge |year=2002 |pages=29–36}}
* {{Cite book|title=Vesuvius: A Biography|last=Scarth|first=Alwyn|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780691143903|location=Princeton}}
* {{cite book |title=The natural history of Pompeii |editor-first=Wilhelmina Mary Feemster |editor-last=Jashemski |editor2-first=Frederick Gustav |editor2-last=Meyer |contribution=The Eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 |first1=Haraldur |last1=Sigurdsson |first2=Steven |last2=Carey |location=Cambridge UK |publisher=The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge |year=2002 |pages=37–64}}
* {{cite book |title=Herculaneum, past, present & future |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6769875_000 |first1=Charles |last1=Waldstein |first2=Leonard Knollys Haywood |last2=Shoobridge |location=London |publisher=Macmillan and Co |year=1908}}
* {{Cite book|title=Watching Vesuvius: A History of Science and Culture in Early Modern Italy|last=Cocco|first=Sean|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2012|isbn=9780226923710|location=Chicago, IL}}
* {{cite journal |first1=E. |last1=Zanella |first2=L. |last2=Gurioli |first3=M.T. |last3=Pareschi |first4=R. |last4=Lanza |title=Influences of urban fabric on pyroclastic density currents at Pompeii (Italy): Part II: temperature of the deposits and hazard implications |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |year=2007 |volume=112 |issue=B5 |pages=B05214 |doi=10.1029/2006jb004775 |bibcode=2007JGRB..112.5214Z |url=https://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/2370/1/1245.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011191602/https://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/2370/1/1245.pdf |archive-date=2007-10-11 |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|Vesuvio|auto=yes}}
* {{cite web |last1=Purcell |first1=N. |last2=Talbert |first2=R. |last3=Gillies |first3=S. |last4=Elliott |first4=T. |last5=Becker |first5=J. |title=Places: 433189 (Vesuvius M.) |url=https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/433189/Vesuvius-M |publisher=Pleiades |date=20 March 2015 |access-date=8 March 2012}}
* {{cite news |last=Fraser |first=Christian |title=Vesuvius escape plan 'insufficient' |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6247573.stm |publisher=BBC News |location=Naples |date=10 January 2007 |access-date=11 May 2010}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Garrett |first1=Roger A. |last2=Klenk |first2=Hans-Peter |title=Vesuvius' next eruption |url=https://www.geotimes.org/apr05/NN_Vesuvius.html |url-status=dead |journal=Geotimes |date=April 2005 |access-date=8 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070512192957/https://www.geotimes.org/apr05/NN_Vesuvius.html |archive-date=12 May 2007}}
* {{cite web |title=Vesuvius: The making of a catastrophe: Il problema ignorato |url=https://www.westnet.com/~dobran/index.html |publisher=Global Volcanic and Environmental Systems Simulation (GVES) |date=1996–2003}}

{{Volcanoes of Italy}}
{{Decade Volcanoes}}
{{Archaeological site of Pompeii}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vesuvius, Mount}}
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[[Category:Geography of Naples]]
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[[Category:Subduction volcanoes]]
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[[Category:Pompeii (ancient city)]]
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