VOLCANIC HAZARDS 1

Shirley Paxtor

Michael S. Kass

Geography 1700

24 June 2019

Volcanic Hazards

A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust through ash, gases and molten rock from below

the surface of the earth. Many volcanic cones are made up of material from the past eruptions.

The volcano is a crack in the top layer of our planet where molten rock from below can get to the

surface. The inside the crater is the volcano’s vent, the opening through which magma erupts as

lava, rock, ash and gas. The height of each peak and the shape of the crater change with each

eruption, as new material is laid down and older deposits collapse. In 1900, Vesuvius was 4,275

feet (1,303 meters) high. After several eruptions, its height stood at 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) in

2015. The crater ranges from 50 to 400 feet (15 to 120 meters) across the North and northeast by

a partial ring of rock called Mount Somma (3,700 feet tall). Vesuvius and Somma are separated

by a valley 3 miles in length called Atrio di Cavallo. Vesuvius and Somma produces little more

than occasional bursts of steam. It can be spew cinders (bits of volcanic rock) and small amounts

of lava.

The planet Earth has four primary layers. The outer rocky layer is called the crust. Miles

below the crust another thick, hot rock layer called the mantle. The last two layers are outer core

and the inner core. They are located in the center of the earth. Outer core is made of liquid metals

while the inner core is a solid white-hot ball of metals. The temperature is as hot of the sun’s

surface, around 9,000 to 13,000 degrees fahrenheit. Pressure from different layers such as the

outer core, mantle, and crust packs the solid circle.

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At an opening in the earth’s crust, the rocky outer layer, rocks are melted from inside the

earth and blasted out of the volcano’s crater and called a volcanic eruption. The magma is thick

and pasty and eruption is strong lava is erupted magma. Gases are built up inside of the volcano

with lava blows out. The tectonic plates are broken into large thick flat pieces of land and the

molten rock from the mantle rises up through cracks in the earth’s crust. Lava erupts out of a

crack in the crust and as it cools it may form a mountain. When the volcano erupts, the magma

collects in giant pockets underground. The pressure inside the magma through the rocks above

ejects a tall cloud of gas and ash. (Bruce, 2002)

The molten rock called magma is below the earth's surface and lava rise from the molten

rocks. The vent is an opening on the surface of the volcano. The conduits are magma rises

through a central tube. A crater- bowl-shaped depression sits at the top of a volcano. The

volcanoes occur at the struts and upper portion of the mantle form the lithosphere.

When predicting when a volcano will erupt, there are Volcanologists who are trained to study

volcanoes and carefully monitor active volcanoes that erupt especially the ones with the nearest

cities. Volcanologists also study past eruptions to predict the future and look for clues to get

people out of town (Thompson, 2000).

The small tremors that indicate that a volcano is about to erupt. They may cause

earthquakes and trigger a volcanic eruption. Volcanologist use seismometers, to measure

movement in the ground, and to track earthquake activity near volcanoes (Pellerino, 2004). The

land surrounded by a volcano tilts or bulges, it’s a sign that lava, gas or pressure is built in the

magma chamber below. measure the degree of the volcano and look for changes. A large amount

of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide have surface the air. The air had made it harder for people

to breathe and it had cause people to collapsed on the floor and die from the lack of oxygen. The
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special instruments check the air for high levels of gas close to volcanoes. Not all volcanoes

operate the same. Some volcanoes explode with no warning. Most would give one or more of the

signals, and lives might be saved if predicted right. Better prediction eruptions each year make it

safer to be by volcanoes. It’s similar to Mount Vesuvius to how people were not familiar with the

warning signs of the eruption in 79 AD.

Mount Vesuvius

Vesuvius is located in Naple, Italy. It was formed from a subduction-zone arc of

volcanoes that formed where one tectonic plate, called the African plate is being pushed down

beneath another plate, called the Eurasian Plate. The African plate sinks, it heats up, forming

magma. The magma wells up through the Eurasian plate, feeding a chain of volcanoes through

the Italian coast, which includes Vesuvius, Stromboli and Mount Etna. Vesuvius is a

stratovolcano volcano. A stratovolcano eruptions will throw large amounts of ash and rocks. As

time passes the material builds up around the vent in layers called strata. That ended up forming

a cone-shaped mountain and remains of the larger volcano-mount Somma. Somma is a volcano

like Vesuvius that built up over time by layers of erupted material. Scientists have studied years

on the volcano through it’s rocks. The rocks remained there for thousands of years before

recorded history. Somma volcano’s peak collapsed into the space left behind, forming a ring-

shaped crater called a caldera. The arc remaining of Mount Somma are the caldera’s rim, over

time it forms Mount Vesuvius.

Historical Implications a Vesuvius on Humans

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On August 24, 79 CE. Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed two ancient Roman Cities,

Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has lasted more than two full days and the cloud of gas, ash and

hot rocks reach the height of eight miles. (Calderazzo, 2004)

Mount Vesuvius is located at Naples, Italy a mountain over the bay of Naples on the

southwest coast of the nation of Italy. There was a bare, cone-shaped peak steep ridge shaped

like a half ring. The forest and bushes and small tree cover mountain’s slopes. The villages and

vineyards, it’s a great place where grapes are grown. The city that was close to Mount Vesuvius

was the third largest city, lies about 7 miles to the west. There were millions of people that lived

and worked by the mountain. It’s the only active volcano on the maintain land of Europe and

considered the most dangerous volcanoes from scientist. The most studied volcano from earth.

The Aftermath

According to Victoria Bruce, who have a masters in geology from the University of

California, the Roman author Pliny the Younger is known as having witnessed the eruption of

Mount Vesuvius. The Roman column sank to the ground and surged outward in a fast-moving

wave of hot gas, ash and rock called a pyroclastic flow, which destroyed the cities of Pompeii

and Herculaneum. There were 16,000 people that were killed from the eruption. Pliny's uncle,

Pliny the Elder, died trying to rescue the fleeing townsfolk by boat. People were buried in ash

and cinders. Over time, the materials hardened, the bodies decayed away, leaving empty spaces.

When archaeologists dug up the ruins of Pompeii in 1800’s, they ran into these cavities and filled

them with plaster. The “victims” final moments to life frozen in time like a snapshot. Around the

time of 79 AD to modern day many people would move close to Mount Vesuvius for it’s soil.

The Volcanic Vineyards are the rock and ash from the eruptions made fertile soils. The soil is

extremely fertile and the area is famous for its vineyards of wine grapes. People have grown
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grapes in vineyards since ancient times. Many people have built homes on the lower slopes of

the mountain and on the lower slopes of the mountain and on the plains at its foot.

Conclusion

From learning about how volcanoes are formed to how deadly they are to people living

close by the volcano. The consequences for people’s decision after their willingness to move

close by Mount Vesuvius knowing well the changes of the next deadly eruption. Like the people

in 79 AD, who moved closer to the volcano to do a lot of farming for food that’s hard to grow in

normal soil. The amount of written words to keep a record on Mount Vesuvius has had it easier

on scientists to predict the next deadly eruption. Mount Vesuvius and the amount of advance

technology has made it easier to have many things to learn about volcanoes a lot easier to access.

The Scientists need to be prepared to predict the next eruption by Mount Vesuvius or else the

people living in modern day Italy will become history.

References

Bruce, Victoria. No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and

Nevado Del Ruiz. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.

Calderazzo, John. Rising Fire: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives. Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2004.
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Dvorak, John. The Last Volcano. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Fisher, Richard V., Grant Heiken and Jeffrey Hulen. Volcanoes: Crucibles of Change . New

Jersey: Princeton University Press , 1998.

Pellerino, charles. Ghosts of vesuvius. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Scarth, Alwyn. Vesuvius. Princeton University Press , 2009.

Thompson, Dick. Volcano Cowboys. New york: Time magazine science correspondent, 2000.

Zebrowski, Ernest. The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster That Claimed 30,000

Lives. New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, 2002.