May 1998

Jim Webster journeys to Vesuvius with Museum colleagues and a team of mold makers. With the assistance of Italian colleagues, a cast is created of a fallen column in an excavated explosive pumice and ash flow (a mold is necessary because this is a protected archaeological site). This site shows the destructive capacity of explosive volcanoes: Vesuvius destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii in 79 A.D. Volcanic processes like these play a key role in forming ocean basins, mountains, and continents.

Excavated ruins rising up before Mount Vesuvius, outside of Naples, Italy.

photo credit: Denis Finnin, © American Museum of Natural History