Volcanoes

Volcanoes - Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is one of the most famous volcanoes of the world and one of three well known siblings (Vesuvius , Etna and Stromboli ) that are all located in southern Italy . However , since Etna and Stromboli are placed on islands , Mount Vesuvius is situated close to the city of Naples and therefore the only active volcano on the European mainland . It is a beautiful 1 ,281 m high stratovolcano and the term active in this context means that it has erupted within the last hundred years , which actually happened with

Mount Vesuvius in 1944 the last time so far . However because of its close proximity to the densely populated area of the city of Naples and its tendency towards explosive eruptions , Mount Vesuvius is considered to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes worldwide . But what do we know about the history of Mount Vesuvius eruptions ? And can this knowledge help us to eventually predict future eruptions of the volcano

According to most recent publications from the Vesuvius Observatory (http /www .ov .ingv .it , first weak and effusive eruptions formed Vesuvius ' so called Somma ' mountain about 25 ,000 years ago . The first plinianic (explosive eruption named after Pliny the Younger , that observed such a kind of volcanic eruption the first time in the year 79 AC at Mount Vesuvius ) eruption (Pomici di Base ) dates back 18 ,300 years and is followed by a period of higher activity that ended with the second plinianic eruption (Pomici Verdoline ) 16 ,000 years ago ADDIN EN .CITE Cioni1Cioni , RMarianelli , PSantacroce RSbrana A2000Plinian and Subplinian EruptionsSigurdsson HHoughton BMcNutt SRymer HStix JEncyclopedia of VolcanoesSan DiegoAcademic Press (Cioni , Marianelli et al . 2000 . The volcano was stable for quite some time after that and it was only 8 ,000 years ago when a third plinianic eruption (Pomici di Mercato or Ottaviano eruption ) started another era of volcanic activity at Mount Vesuvius . After this period , an assumed period of inactivity followed and just ended with a fourth plinianic eruption (Pomici di Avellino 3 ,800 years ago . This eruption was the first to impact human settlements in Vesuvius ' vicinity and destroyed settlements of the bronze-age that happened to be within a distance of about 15 kilometres around the volcano ADDIN EN .CITE Mastrolorenzo200642 6Mar 21The Avellino 3780-yr-B .P . catastrophe as a worst-case scenario for a future eruption at Vesuvius4366-70Osservatorio Vesuviano , Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia , via Diocleziano 328 , 80124 Naples Italy .Mastrolorenzo G .Petrone ,

.Pappalardo L .Sheridan , M F .Proc Natl Acad Sci U S Ahttp /www .ncbi .nlm .nih .gov /entrez /query .fcgi ?cm d Retrieve db PubMed dopt Citation list_uids (Mastrolorenzo , Petrone et al . 2006 . A fifth large eruption with a volcano eruption index (VEI ) of 5-6 ADDIN EN .CITE Scandone6Scandone , RGiacomelli LGasparini E1993Mount Vesuvio : 2000 years of volcanological observationsJournal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research585-25 (Scandone , Giacomelli et al . 1993 ) occurred in the year 79 AC (Pompeji eruption . It is this eruption that should become one of the most famous and well documented volcanic...