Mount Vesuvius
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Mount Vesuvius (Italian: Monte Vesuvio, Latin: Mons Vesuvius) is a volcano in Italy. When it erupted in 79 AD, it destroyed the Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum, and killed thousands of people. Today, the modern Italian city of Naples is near it.
[change] Eruption of 79 AD
The people in Pompeii had experienced a tremendous earthquake on February 5, 62 A.D., and when Vesuvius blew, some buildings weren't still finished being repaired.
Today, people think the eruption of 79 AD lasted more than 19 hours. It was witnessed by Pliny the Younger who described it as the shape of a pine tree. Pliny the Younger was the only person to write the story down.
There were many ways that people died. One was that the smoke that they breathed in was deadly because it dried in their lungs and formed glass. They also were covered by molten lava which when solid formed a shell around the body, so it was like they turned into stone.
Vesuvius erupted 20 more times after the eruption in 79 AD. Vesuvius was named a national park in 1995. This type of volcano is known as the Stratovolcano type volcano.
