Question: have you seen pompay

Kate Dobson answered on 14 Dec 2020:

I have been to Pompeii. Did you know the eruption which destroyed it only lasted about 18 hours? Vesuvius looks like a “proper” volcano, nice and triangular and conical, but actually there is a much more important and much larger volcano beneath the much of the city of Naples. It’s called Campi Flegrei of the Phlegraean Fields. The largest eruptions from this volcano were VEI 7 (the largest) and erupted over 200 km3 of material. The AD79 eruption that destroyed Pompeii was 200 x smaller (only 1-2 km3 of material)!!

However, Vesuvius erupts far more often (27 times since Pompeii was destroyed) and has erupted far more recently (last eruption 1944) that Campi Flegrei (last eruption 1538).