Early victims of the eruption.
Almost 2,000 years ago, Pliny the Younger wrote letters describing the shaking ground as Vesuvius erupted. Now, a collaborative study led by researchers from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and Pompeii Archaeological Park has shed light on the effects of seismicity associated with the 79 CE eruption.
The study is the first to tackle the complex task of reporting on the effects of co-occurring earthquakes. This is tricky due to the possibility of volcanic and seismic effects happening concurrently or in quick succession, meaning volcanic effects can overshadow effects caused by earthquakes and vice versa.
"These complexities are like a
jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces must fit together to unravel the complete picture," said Dr. Domenico Sparice, a volcanologist at INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano and first author of the
Frontiers in Earth Sciencestudy. "We proved that seismicity during the eruption played a significant role in the destruction of Pompeii and, possibly, influenced the choices of the Pompeiians who faced an inevitable death."
"Correctly recognizing the cause-effect relationship is essential to reconstruct the interplay between volcanic and seismic phenomena, and their effects on buildings and humans," added co-author Dr. Fabrizio Galadini, a geologist and senior researcher at INGV. ...
When the researchers found two skeletons with severe fracture and trauma injuries, they were even more motivated to figure out the reason. ...
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-pompeii-skeleton-discovery-natural-disaster.html