Welcome, this is an educational website designed to help students learn about the processes of explosive volcanic activity through the use of inquiry-based techniques. The exercises use the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius volcano in Italy as a type example of a large explosive eruption that had a significant impact on the local human population. The eruption is well-known for the burial of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Excavation of these cities by archeologists have provided a unique view of everyday life in Roman times.

One of the great mysteries of Pompeii and Herculaneum is what was it like in these two cities during the fateful two-day eruption in 79 A.D. that led to their entombment for close to 2000 years? In the exercises that follow, you and your fellow students will play the role of a team of volcanologists who are trying to reconstruct the event by examing evidence in the volcanic material that buried the cities. You will take a virtual fieldtrip to the Vesuvius area where you will be able to carry out observations and measurements to help you form your own hypotheses about what happened.