On a fateful day in 79 AD Mt Vesuvius unleashed its fury on the 20,000 inhabitants of Pompeii, a thriving Roman city. However, every dark cloud has a silver lining.  Although this tragic event ended the lives of 20,000 Pompeian residents, the ash that buried the town served as a sort of mummification for the entire city.  Under the ash everything remained as it was at the time of the eruption.  Artwork was preserved.  Buildings were preserved. Several important clues were left behind.  These clues give us a little glimpse into the past. 

 

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A volcano is a place on the Earth's surface (or any other planet's or moon's surface) where molten rock, gases and pyroclastic debris erupt through the earth's crust. Volcanoes vary quite a bit in their structure - some are cracks in the earth's crust where lava erupts, and some are domes, shields, or mountain-like structures with a crater at the summit. Magma is molten rock within the Earth's crust. When magma erupts through the earth's surface it is called lava. Lava can be thick and slow-moving or thin and fast-moving. Rock also comes from volcanoes in other forms, including ash (finely powdered rock that looks like dark smoke coming from the volcano), cinders (bits of fragmented lava), and pumice (light-weight rock that is full of air bubbles and is formed in explosive volcanic eruptions - this type of rock can float on water).

 

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