Do Now Task . . . .Why can a volcano be dangerous?What might the warning signs be?

L/O: To investigate an ancient disaster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQzDcZE2hoE

Where is Pompeii?

Pompeii was an important and busy Roman city 2,000 years ago.

It is located 200 kilometres south of Rome, in the Bay of Naples on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

On this map of Europe you can see Italy.

Describe the location of

Pompeii in 2 sentences

What did Pompeii used to be like?

In AD 79 Pompeii was a beautiful city.

Its grand public buildings, the Temple, the Forum were built of carved stone.

Its shops and houses were built of concrete. It had paved streets with pavements, running water and gardens.

The city even had its own The city even had its own AmphitheatreAmphitheatre where the citizens of where the citizens of PompeiiPompeii would go, in the would go, in the afternoonsafternoons and and eveningsevenings, to , to watch playswatch plays about about Greek and Roman GodsGreek and Roman Gods and about and about famous Greeks and Romansfamous Greeks and Romans..

But all of this busy living by the But all of this busy living by the Roman citizens of Roman citizens of PompeiiPompeii in in AD 79AD 79, , was done in the was done in the shadowshadow of of Mount Mount VesuviusVesuvius. The . The mountain volcanomountain volcano had had not eruptednot erupted for so long ( for so long (hundreds of hundreds of yearsyears) that the ) that the Romans did not know Romans did not know that it was a volcanothat it was a volcano..

The people of The people of PompeiiPompeii grew crops and grew crops and fruitfruit on the on the slopes of the mountainslopes of the mountain because the because the soils was very good for soils was very good for growing plantsgrowing plants..

Describe what Pompeii used to be like in

AD 79

On On 2424thth August AD 79 August AD 79, in the , in the afternoon, afternoon, Mount VesuviusMount Vesuvius eruptederupted with a with a massive explosionmassive explosion that hurled that hurled rockrock, , ashash and and molten lavamolten lava hundreds hundreds of metres into the air.of metres into the air.

LavaLava started to run down the slopes started to run down the slopes of the mountain, of the mountain, destroyingdestroying all the all the fields of crops and fruitfields of crops and fruit that the that the Romans had been growing in the Romans had been growing in the fertile volcanic soilfertile volcanic soil..

The The lavalava was was flowingflowing down the down the mountainmountain, , destroying all their cropsdestroying all their crops, but , but the the Romans of PompeiiRomans of Pompeii, were , were not really not really worried. worried.

They They carriedcarried on with their on with their everyday everyday businessbusiness, thinking the eruption would , thinking the eruption would not last very long, and the not last very long, and the lavalava would would not reach their citynot reach their city..

Why did they not leave?

But then, But then, 18 hours after the volcano had 18 hours after the volcano had first eruptedfirst erupted, there was an , there was an enormous enormous explosion, biggerexplosion, bigger than the first. than the first.

It It blew half the side of the mountain offblew half the side of the mountain off and and a a huge cloud of red hot ashhuge cloud of red hot ash, , rockrock and and gasgas, , hurtledhurtled downdown the side of the volcano and the side of the volcano and straight straight over the city of over the city of PompeiiPompeii..

The The citizenscitizens tried to tried to run to escape itrun to escape it, but it , but it was was too fasttoo fast..

When the side of the mountain blew off, the When the side of the mountain blew off, the citizens of Pompeii could not escape.citizens of Pompeii could not escape.

Red hot ashRed hot ash, , rockrock and and gasgas rushed downrushed down over over the city at a the city at a speed of 400 km per hourspeed of 400 km per hour. This . This rush of hot ash is called a rush of hot ash is called a Pyroclastic FlowPyroclastic Flow..

The citizens of The citizens of PompeiiPompeii and their city were and their city were buried in secondsburied in seconds beneath a beneath a layer of ashlayer of ash and and rocks rocks 9 metres thick9 metres thick..

Animation of Vesuvius eruptionAnimation of Vesuvius eruption

This This mapmap of the of the Bay of NaplesBay of Naples shows how shows how farfar the the volcanic ashvolcanic ash was was blown by the windblown by the wind and spread and spread across the areaacross the area..

AshAsh completely completely buriedburied the cities of the cities of PompeiiPompeii and and HerculaneumHerculaneum. .

The town of The town of StabiaeStabiae was was not not buried so heavilyburied so heavily, but it was the , but it was the placeplace where where Pliny diedPliny died after after breathingbreathing in the in the ash and gasash and gas from from the volcano.the volcano.

ArchaeologistsArchaeologists discovered discovered PompeiiPompeii in in 17481748, and the whole city was finally , and the whole city was finally dug out of the thick layer of ash and soil in 1997dug out of the thick layer of ash and soil in 1997, nearly , nearly 2000 years later2000 years later. . This photo shows that many of the This photo shows that many of the city’s buildings survived being buried.city’s buildings survived being buried. This is because so many of them were This is because so many of them were made of stone or concretemade of stone or concrete. Only . Only wooden buildings or wooden parts of buildings were burnt away by the hot wooden buildings or wooden parts of buildings were burnt away by the hot ash in AD 79.ash in AD 79.

But But archaeologistsarchaeologists also also discovereddiscovered a a surprisesurprise – the – the imprintsimprints of of bodiesbodies in the in the volcanic ashvolcanic ash..

These were the These were the citizens of Pompeiicitizens of Pompeii who had who had been been buried by the burning hot ash in AD 79buried by the burning hot ash in AD 79..

The The archaeologistsarchaeologists made made plaster castsplaster casts of the of the body imprintsbody imprints and that is what we are looking and that is what we are looking at now.at now.

How did the people of

Pompeii die?

Roman people lie where they died from the ash Roman people lie where they died from the ash and gases, buried under the thick ash.and gases, buried under the thick ash.

A dog lies on its back having suffocated from A dog lies on its back having suffocated from breathing in the hot ash.breathing in the hot ash.

A man’s body lies where he fell over, buried A man’s body lies where he fell over, buried beneath the hot volcanic ash.beneath the hot volcanic ash.

Archaeologists were shocked when they Archaeologists were shocked when they discovered these body imprints.discovered these body imprints.

Tasks:

• Why are volcanoes dangerous?

• How can they effect people and the land?

• How could a volcanic eruption affect the economy (money) of an area? Explain your answer!

• What could be done to prevent this from happening again?