Not earthquake, but another natural disaster made volcanic eruption more deadly in Pompeii: study

In a new study,researchers from the Pompeii Archaeological Park and the Istituto Nazionale di GeofisicaeVulcanologia (INGV) found that the eruption of Vesuvius became more deadly because of another natural disaster and not an earthquake.

The collaborative study has emphasised the effects of seismicity related to the 79 CE eruption.

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This is the first study which has been handling the complex task of understanding the effects of co-occurring earthquakes.

The situation appears tricky because of the possibility of volcanic and seismic effects taking place concurrently or in quick succession, which means volcanic effects are likely to overshadow effects caused by earthquakes and vice versa.

"These complexities are like ajigsaw puzzlein which all the pieces must fit together to unravel the complete picture," said Dr Domenico Sparice, who is a volcanologist at INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano and first author of theFrontiers in Earth Science study.

"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," he said.

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"Correctly recognising the cause-effect relationship is essential to reconstruct the interplay between volcanic and seismic phenomena, and their effects on buildings and humans," said co-author Dr. Fabrizio Galadini, who is a geologist and senior researcher at INGV.

Two skeletons speak about how Pompeii crumbled

The researchers, amid excavations in the "Casa dei Pittori al Lavoro", noticed that something was wrong regarding the collapsed buildings.

"We found peculiar characteristics that were inconsistent with the effects of volcanic phenomena described in the volcanological literature devoted to Pompeii. There had to be a different explanation," co-author Dr. Mauro Di Vito, who is a volcanologist and director of INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano said.

The researchers discovered two skeletons with trauma injuries and severe fractures and decided to find out what was the reason behind it.

Small rock andash particles had rained on the city for 18 hours and when the eruption started, the inhabitants who had survived were likely to have believed that they were safe in their shelter till strong earthquakes started.

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"The people who did not flee their shelters were possibly overwhelmed by earthquake-induced collapses of already overburdened buildings. This was the fate of the twoindividualswe recovered," said co-author Dr. Valeria Amoretti, an anthropologist who heads the Applied Research Laboratory of Pompeii Archaeological Park.

"New insight into the destruction of Pompeii gets us very close to the experience of the people who lived here 2,000 years ago. The choices they made as well as the dynamics of the events, which remain a focus of our research, decided over life and death in the last hours of the city's existence," concluded co-author Dr. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

(With inputs from agencies)