Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Pompeii, on August 24, A.D. 79.

We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand. On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size.

—Pliny the Younger, in a letter describing his view of the eruption, c. A.D. 79

As this first-recorded first-hand account of a volcanic eruption describes, Mount Vesuvius wrought mass destruction when it erupted on August 24, A.D. 79. When Mount Vesuvius erupted, soot, rocks and ashes fell first, burying the city and people of Pompeii in depths of up to 100 feet. After the ash fell, the lava began to flow with such force that it reached the town of Herculaneum—four miles away—in only four minutes. The eruption killed more than 3,500 people, and the city of Pompeii was buried for nearly 1,600 years before it was rediscovered. Mount Vesuvius has erupted more than 50 times since the A.D. 79 event, including the 1631 eruption which killed an additional 4,000 people. Another 300 years passed before the city was excavated and the story was revealed. Today Pompeii is a significant tourist attraction, and was named a United Nations World Heritage site in 1998.

EDSITEment
In In Old Pompeii (9–12), students take a virtual field trip to the ruins of Pompeii to learn about everyday life in Roman times. They then create a travelogue to attract visitors to the site and write an account of their field trip modeled on a description of Pompeii written by Mark Twain.

Xpeditions
In Big Island Pool: Igneous Rocks and the Anatomy of a Volcano (K–2), students look at the anatomy of a volcano and the environment around it. Students learn about the rocks that are formed when a volcano erupts—igneous rocks. They then take a virtual visit to Big Island Pool in Hawaii via National Geographic’s Xpedition Hall and learn how forces of water (hydrosphere), wind (atmosphere) and geology (lithosphere) mold the Earth on which we live.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius is one of the volcanic eruptions students research as they work cooperatively to become “Volcano Hazards Experts” in Volcano Hazards: Describing a Dangerous Mix (9–12).