In 79 AD Vesuvius erupted with the most deadly effect. A pyroclastic cloud engulfed both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They were both buried in superheated ash.
The last eruption was in 1944. My father was stationed with an Italian family near Naples. He went up the volcano while it was erupting and had an ashtray made out of molten lava.
It was interesting for me to see the very lava flow that my father had witnessed flowing.
That must have been quite an experience.
It was very moving Jennie.
🙂
You’re dad was lucky to see it when it occurred and it’s fascinating that you saw it after all these years.
Yes – it was strangely nostalgic.
How far did the cloud travel?
You can see Vesuvius from Herculaneum. I think it is about 9 miles away but that pyroclastic cloud travelled at about a 100 MPH.
Opher, that’s poppycock!
That pyroclastic cloud travelled at supersonic speed. All Volcanic explosions do otherwise there wouldn’t be any molten debris and tons of ash in the air at a paltry minuscule 100 mph. What were you thinking? LOL.
Roger – why do you have to adopt such an aggressive manner? Particularly when you are often so wrong:
Here’s an extract from a paper on pyroclastic flows:
Pyroclastic Flows
Pyroclastic flows are clouds of hot volcanic gases, ash and volcanic bombs that can sweep down the volcano’s sides and other steep hills at speeds over 100 miles per hour.
While these flows can travel at speeds of up to 450 MPH as they sweep down mountainsides they usually don’t travel at that speed and tend to slow down as they progress over flat ground. The reports I read about Herculaneum were that as it was 9 miles away the flow would have slowed to around a 100 MPH by the time it reached there.
Now I don’t mind being politely corrected if I am wrong and I do enjoy a discussion but please do try to be civil.
Opher, Seriously, get your head screwed on. They weren’t killed by the flow, but killed with what fell out of the sky – tons and tons of molten hot ash and debris smothering out every last gasp of air. For crying out loud, man, what the hell is wrong with you?
Andrew you are so arrogantly unbelievable and rude. Here’s the latest:
Recent multidisciplinary research on the lethal effects of the pyroclastic surges in the Vesuvius area showed that in the vicinity of Pompeii and Herculaneum, heat was the main cause of the death of people who had previously been thought to have died by ash suffocation.
Listen carefully to the volcano news reports to what just happened and caused the deaths in Guatemala.
Btw, fyi, I am never wrong. Which is the very reason why you compel me to have to correct you all too often. If only you did better research or at least some basic fact checking before putting pen to paper. I can highly recommend doing that.
Never wrong Andrew. You must be joking. I’ve caught you out time and time again.
Opher, Didn’t you brag on last week or so about having over 6,000 – I can’t remember followers or something?
Well, today it seems to be just you, that’s Opher and me, that’s Roger.
Andrew isn’t here today Opher. Maybe he’ll come back one day, but today he is simply not here. OK?
And they all lived happily ever after.
Not brag Andrew the chameleon, or is it the schizophrenic? I reported in celebration of my three years and you couldn’t even remember the number. I’m shocked.
Why would I remember something as trivial as your total of followers.
It’s gotta be bullshit ain’t it. Just look around, there’s you, me and your shadow!
6,000 my ass there is.
You’re a bloody nutter matey. A raving bloody loony who’s completely lost the plot with just about everything.
Just one bloody angry ball of malcontent and dislike for anybody and everything that just isn’t tickety-boo with his myopic little obsessive and compulsive world.
Everything has to fit smartly into a pre-designated box.
Austrian Policy – into there
Abortion – over there
Muslims – into there, no problem.
Tommy Robinson – over there, too bad, pal
DUP – can fuck off
Paul Dacre – can fuck off
Islamophobia – into there, no worries, it’s all good
Etc. Etc.
What a mad wee box of snakes we have here. A jumpin’ Jack of extreme likes and dislikes and no matter what information comes his way in due course it’s swept aside and charged over with all the deliberation and control of a petulant teenage brat covered in spots and doesn’t realise why and won’t accept it’s because they ate and drank too much shite. You just can’t tell them fucking anything.
What’s the MPS?, he asks, fucking 19 posts later. Fuck me! Seriously, fuck me, what the fuck is it with this guy?
It’s like loading out the life boats on the Titanic and somebody asks as it’s listing sideways, “oh, did we hit something?”. Jeezuz.
Your arrogance and rudeness says it all. And people wonder why Tories are called the nasty party. They and their followers are the most unpleasant people on the planet with such high opinions of themselves. Sad.
There you go again putting people into neat little boxes with a name tag. Could it get any more pathetic?
You may not have noticed but it wan’t myself who expressed arrogance.
It was yourself who obviously had not read my posts fully or correctly and ploughed forward feet first. I can only do my best to be informative but I can’t enforce it upon you.
You seem to be under the deluded impression that it’s only yourself who seems to know about stuff. Yet you openly admit to having had a piss poor education, yet remain so extremely opinionated. Personally, I always require a substantial amount of information before I’m anywhere near able to form an opinion. That opinion may also be subject to change given vital new information.
I don’t think that you employ anywhere near the required quality control.
I have been reading about volcanoes since the current events. Check out my blog about the the top deadlest volcanoes atm!
I’ll do that when I get a minute.