| |
As you read, click icons in the left margin
and answer any questions that pop up.
Your answers will be stored for
you to review and print once you have finished the article. |
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
from National Geographic World, December 1999
The Day of Disaster
by Michael Burgan
When a volcano erupted in 79 A.D. it destroyed
—and preserved—two Roman cities.
|
|
| |
|
|
OLD AND NEW.
Ruins of ancient Herculaneum stand in front of Ercolano, a modern city built on the same site in Italy. Vesuvius rises behind it. Much of the ancient city still lies buried about 65 feet beneath the new city. |
Found: Two Lost Cities
 WITHOUT WARNING, Vesuvius exploded on the morning of August 24, 79 A.D. Until then the volcano had been silent for more than 800 years. Located six miles northwest of the city of Pompeii, Italy, Vesuvius sent a massive black cloud of ash and rock 12 miles into the air. The sky turned as dark as midnight. Pumice (PUM-iss), a type of volcanic rock, fell on Pompeii like hail.
During the eruption, people panicked trying to escape the downfall. Some rushed into buildings, and others tried to flee the city. Pumice and ash fell at the rate of six inches an hour. Within a few hours, roofs collapsed under the weight of the pumice, trapping those inside. Then the air became searingly hot.
|
|
| |
|
|
Around midnight the nature of the eruption changed into what scientists call a surge cloud or glowing avalanche. Now the volcano unleashed a wave of burning ash, rock, and dust particles that rolled down the mountainside instead of rising sky-high. The materials in such an avalanche can reach temperatures of 1,000° Fahrenheit and move at speeds of more than 60 miles an hour. For the next eight hours, Vesuvius spewed out six major glowing avalanches.
|
|
| |
|
|
"The Day of Disaster" by Michael Burgan from National Geographic World, December 1999. Copyright © 1999 by National Geographic Society. Reproduced by permission of the publisher.
|
|
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
