The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => History => Topic started by: rangerrebew on October 25, 2018, 04:59:36 pm
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Mount Vesuvius murdered its victims in more brutal ways than we thought
Boiling blood and exploding skulls.
By Neel V. Patel October 9, 2018
Our visions of Pompeii's destruction just got a little more gruesome.
For nearly two millennia, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius has served as a stark reminder that nature is capable of some serious violence. The helpless residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum were inundated by volcanic horror, bludgeoned by hot ash avalanches that asphyxiated them while preserving their bodies for centuries afterward, within an unforgettable necropolis. At least, that’s what we always assumed. It turns out, many people probably died in ways that were more grisly than we imagined.
In findings published in PLOS One late last month, researchers from Naples, Italy found that a segment of Vesuvius victims were likely killed by fast-moving laving surges that streamed down toward the towns below, creating temperatures high enough to vaporize bodily fluids and create explosions in the skull. It’s about as horrific a way to go as you might imagine, and upends the notion that the toxic gases and thick chunks of ash were responsible for choking inhabitants to death during the AD 79 eruption.
https://www.popsci.com/vesuvius-blood-boil (https://www.popsci.com/vesuvius-blood-boil)
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Didn't know that nature was capable of "murder"...this is news to me. :pondering:
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Didn't know that nature was capable of "murder"...this is news to me. :pondering:
That's one cold-blooded volcano!
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That's one cold-blooded volcano!
:silly:
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(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/72/fb/be/notice-the-mountain-in.jpg)
MURDERER!!
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“Laving†surge?
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I'm not sure of their attempted terminology, but the phenomenon has been known for a long time as a "nuee ardente", a superheated pyroclastic flow usually caused by the collapse of a freshly ejected column of hot gasses and ash. The link has details. https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthword-%E2%80%93-nu%C3%A9e-ardente (https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthword-%E2%80%93-nu%C3%A9e-ardente)
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I'm not sure of their attempted terminology, but the phenomenon has been known for a long time as a "nuee ardente", a superheated pyroclastic flow usually caused by the collapse of a freshly ejected column of hot gasses and ash. The link has details. https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthword-%E2%80%93-nu%C3%A9e-ardente (https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthword-%E2%80%93-nu%C3%A9e-ardente)
@Smokin Joe
I know about pyroclastic flows but laving isn't a word.
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@Smokin Joe
I know about pyroclastic flows but laving isn't a word.
I shutter to think of the experiments on mammals for this 'science' to come to the conclusion they did.
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I saw a pretty dramatic re-enactment on a Netflix or other documentary video a few years ago.
I visited the site in 1970. Since then, much has been uncovered.
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@Smokin Joe
I know about pyroclastic flows but laving isn't a word.
@CatherineofAragon
lave
/lÄv/Submit
verbLITERARY
gerund or present participle: laving
wash.
"she ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands"
(of water) wash against or over (something).
"the sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves" (http://i57.tinypic.com/2uqnj9y.jpg)
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(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/72/fb/be/notice-the-mountain-in.jpg)
MURDERER!!
I hear ya. I feel terrible about that tailgate.
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I shutter to think of the experiments on mammals for this 'science' to come to the conclusion they did.
@DCPatriot
I can't think about it. It's awful.
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@CatherineofAragon
lave
/lÄv/Submit
verbLITERARY
gerund or present participle: laving
wash.
"she ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands"
(of water) wash against or over (something).
"the sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves" (http://i57.tinypic.com/2uqnj9y.jpg)
@GtHawk
I stand corrected! *salute*
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I shutter to think of the experiments on mammals for this 'science' to come to the conclusion they did.
Martinique, 1902. No one needed to hurt any critters.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/mount-pelee (https://allthatsinteresting.com/mount-pelee)
There were only three survivors.
Better article:
https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-may-8-1902-deadly-eruption-mount-pelee (https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-may-8-1902-deadly-eruption-mount-pelee)