Mount Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano near Naples, Italy. Its AD 79 eruption buried Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath volcanic deposits.

Plinian eruption: A highly explosive volcanic eruption that sends a sustained column of gas and ash high into the atmosphere. The AD 79 eruption became the defining example of this eruption style.
Pompeii: An ancient Roman city buried during the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Its streets and buildings preserve a detailed record of the eruption's effects.
Somma–Vesuvius: The volcanic complex formed by Mount Vesuvius and the older Mount Somma caldera rim. Vesuvius rises within the caldera left by the earlier Somma volcano.
Pliny the Elder: A Roman author, naturalist, and naval commander who died during the AD 79 eruption. His death near the erupting volcano is recorded by his nephew, Pliny the Younger.
Roman Empire: The ancient state that governed the Mediterranean region during the first centuries AD. Pompeii and Herculaneum were Roman communities when the eruption destroyed them.
Pyroclastic density current: A fast-moving, ground-hugging flow of hot gas, ash, and volcanic fragments. These deadly currents overwhelmed settlements around Vesuvius during the AD 79 eruption.
Herculaneum: An ancient Roman town buried by volcanic deposits during Vesuvius's AD 79 eruption. Its preservation differs from Pompeii's, including carbonized wood and papyrus.
Campanian volcanic arc: A chain of volcanoes and volcanic regions in southern Italy associated with subduction. Vesuvius is one of the volcanic systems in this regional arc.
Giuseppe Fiorelli: An Italian archaeologist known for directing excavations at Pompeii and introducing plaster casts of victims. His methods made the human forms preserved in Pompeii's ash visible.
Roman archaeology: The study of material remains from ancient Rome and its territories. Excavations around Vesuvius have reshaped knowledge of Roman daily life.

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