The volcanic eruption that obliterated the Roman Ithiel Town ofPompeiisent out an initial wave of raging gas that reached temperatures gamy enough to release people ’s brain to glass . harmonize to a new subject , this short - dwell early burst of heat plunge the nearby townsfolk of Herculaneum in a 550 ° C hell ( 1,022 ° F ) , bringing inst death and destruction .
The cogitation author take apart carbonized wood from multiple sites inHerculaneum , which was faithful to Mount Vesuvius than Pompeii , to reconstruct the thermal event that followed theeruption in 79 CE . Based on the incomplete charring of sure samples , they were able to deduct that the town was initially blast by a very brief yet unthinkably hot gas - corpuscle flow hump as a diluted pyroclastic density current ( PDC ) .
report their findings , the research worker excuse that “ the first thin PDC entered in Herculaneum with a temperature exceeding 550 ° C immortalize by samples collect at the Collegium Augustalium and the Decumanus Maximus [ main street ] . ”
“ This former > 550 ° C event was later follow by the succession of [ pyroclastic flow ] which finally buried the town under 20 - time ( 66 feet ) deep volcanic deposit . These late flows were characterized by humiliated temperature , ” they indite .
Due to the brief nature and extreme heat relate with this initial bam , the entire event allow for only a few dm of ash tree on the footing , which may explain why it had never been detected until now . However , the destructive power of diluted PDCs has been observed in the aftermath of more late volcanic clap , such as that in Martinique in May 1902 , when almost 30,000 masses were instantaneously killed by a gas flow of this nature .
While direct evidence for the diluted PDC at Herculaneum had never previously been recorded , the field generator say numerous clue can be found in the stiff of some of the victims . For illustration , while manycorpses at Pompeiiwere rule frozen in “ the distinctive post - mortem stance known as pugilistic attitude , ” the bodies at Herculaneum were unable to adopt such a position because their soft tissue had been demolished by the intense heat energy .
The find of awell - preserved vitrified braininside the skull of an individual at the Collegium Augustalium , meanwhile , provides yet more clearness . According to the research worker , a brain can only beturned to glassif “ the heating plant event is short - live so that the tissue paper is not fully aerify , ” while the conservation of this vitreous silica cerebellum depended upon subsequent pyroclastic current being cool enough to allow for the build - up of ash tree .
Having reconstructed the events that followed the eruption , the study authors say their finding may have implication for the modern inhabitants of nearby Naples should Vesuvius blow its top again . If another diluted PDC should result , then the researchers consider that the “ potential for survival critically depend on the ability of shelters to prevent infiltration of the hot dusty gas . ”
“ This could allow people who may not had the probability to evacuate sooner to survive and wait for delivery , ” they write .
The study is published in the journalScientific Reports .
