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Nevertheless, , people live in the 18 towns at its base that comprise the "red zone. Directly in the line of fire, the 9-mile kilometer radius of people stand little chance of survival when Vesuvius explodes again.
Experts warn that emergency plans should also include nearby Naples since an explosion could send dangerous burning ash and pumice as far as 12 miles 20 kilometers [source: Fraser ]. The last time Vesuvius activated was in , causing minor damage and killing 26 people.
New research has shown that the mountain probably will not act as kindly next time. For starters, Mount Vesuvius sits on top of a layer of magma deep in the earth that measures square miles square kilometers [source: Noble ]. That's a lot of magma -- Kilaeua Volcano is probably the most active volcano in the world, with 34 eruptions since [source : U.
Geological Survey ], but compared to Vesuvius, which has erupted around 30 times since 79 A. Topping it off, scientists expect that the next eruption will be an incredibly forceful explosion, termed plinean , marked by flying rock and ash at speeds of up to almost miles per hour kph.
To summarize, if Mount Vesuvius erupts today, it wouldn't be a pretty picture. Given its potential, Vesuvius could endanger more than 3 million people and wipe out the city of Naples [source: Than ]. Next, we'll learn what happened to Pompeii and Herculaneum that gave Vesuvius its notable reputation.
Nineteen hours later, the two wealthy Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were almost erased from history. Signs of the incoming blast included a minor earthquake and underground water sources running out a few days prior [source: Stewart ]. A plume of smoke rocketed 20 miles 32 kilometers into the air from Vesuvius' opening, spewing forth its blisteringly hot contents. The only eyewitness to account the eruption, Pliny the Younger, compared the smoke shooting up from Mount Vesuvius to a pine tree.
Soon, the city was engulfed in smoke and noxious gasses from the mountain. Although most people escaped Pompeii, at least 2, who stayed behind were crushed or buried alive in the ash and rock that rained from the sky that day. On the other side of the mountain at the Bay of Naples, the seismic storm travelled to Herculaneum.
In addition to clouds of ash and rock came a heat wave of almost degrees Fahrenheit degrees Celsius [source: Lorenzi ]. Many were able to escape the wrath of the volcano , but 80 bodies were found -- seemingly frozen in time -- killed instantly by extreme thermal shock. Barnes notes that the type of debate swirling around the potential catastrophic Vesuvius eruption is becoming more common in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
These types of disasters, called black swans, are unlikely but potentially devastating. Another example is how to prepare for a potential devastating quake along the Cascadia subduction zone along the west coast of North America.
There, experts say, the science pointing to a future earthquake and tsunami is clear, but planning for it is lagging behind. John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc. Its crater is 4, feet above and 13 miles away from Naples, Italy's third largest city.
Scientists had thought the pool remained constant over the past 4, years but new investigations detailed on Wednesday showed the chamber had actually shifted higher between the Pompeii eruption in AD 79 and the Pollena one in AD Knowing the location of the lava pool is important because more pressure builds up the deeper a pool is, resulting in more powerful eruptions, said Michel Pichavant, a geologist at the University of Orleans in France, who worked on the study.
The findings can help build more accurate models to predict damage from future eruptions by factoring in the movement of these pools, he said. Although Vesuvius has slept for more than six decades, scientists fear the next big eruption could rival the one in AD 79, which suffocated the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash and killed about 16, people.
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