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Long before Mount Vesuvius swallow up Pompeii in rock and ash tree , thevolcanoerupted in an even more powerful explosion that affected the area occupied by present - day Naples . It left the region a desert waste for centuries afterwards , a new study reports .
The so - called Avellino irruption fall out about 3,780 long time ago during the Bronze Age and was at least double as powerful as the one that smothered Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum in 79 AD .
Human remains of young woman buried by the Avellino eruption.
If a similar - sized eruption occurred today , it would destruct the full Italian port - city of Naples and displace 1000000 of people , experts say .
The findings are detailed in the March 7 issuing of the journal for theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Far flung demolition
Scientists have known about the Avellino bam since the 1980s but did n’t know that its destructive influence extended so far .
" We did n’t know that the metropolis of Naples would be so threatened , " tell study loss leader Michael Sheridan of the University of Buffalo in New York . " We never had evidence for a blast extending into the Neapolitan expanse and beyond it . "
Based on late geological and archeological evidence , scientist now think that the Avellino eruption rained more than a beat of hot ash and pumice stone — a light , sponge - similar rock that form when release magma solidifies in air — as far as 9 miles away . Naples is located about 6 miles aside from Vesuvius .
scientist think that the Avellino eruption shot a column of superheated rock and dust more than 20 miles high , darken skies for land mile around . In areas close to the volcano , sear rocks rain down at more than 150 mph .
Driven by westerly winds , the ejected debris blanketed thousand of square miles northeast of the volcano , creating a bleak landscape painting of uninhabitable desert that lasted for more than 200 years .
In the prehistoric settlement of Nola 9 mile away , archaeologist discovered systema skeletale of dogs and nine meaning goats . A little east of the village , they uncover the skeletons of a adult male and a cleaning woman buried beneath more than 3 feet of debris ; the pair believably died of asphyxiation as they tried to get off .
Scientists think most mass outlast the eruption , however . Thousands of human and animal footprints have been found around Vesuvius , embedded in wet volcanic ash tree and leading by from the volcano . base on estimate of the sustainability of the land during the time , scientist estimate that more than 10,000 people were exist in the region when the volcano erupted .
Naples not prepared
Scientists recall that Vesuvius formed some 25,000 years ago and that it experience one major eruption every 2,000 twelvemonth or so . There are piles of small eruptions between the major events , however . Some 30 pocket-sized eruptions are think to have occur since the 79 AD disaster that demolish Pompei . The last eruption was in 1944 .
Sheridan estimates that there is more than a 50 percentage hazard of an eruption occurring within the next class .
" With each year that extend by , the statistical probability growth , " he said .
And while Naples has emergency brake plans to shell out with pocket-size eruptions , Sheridan does n’t consider it ’s inclined for a major one . He say an eruption the sizing of Avellino today would destroy Naples and give the axe more than 3 million people .
" This eruption is much large than the ones that are presently anticipated at Vesuvius , " Sheridan say . " What would you do with the evacuation of 3 million people ? They ’re not fare back . There wo n’t be anything to come back to . "
The Fury
of volcano
Mount St. Helens
in 2004
