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Journal of the Geological Society

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Syneruptive features and sedimentary processes associated with pyroclastic currents entering the sea: the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius, Bay of Naples, Italy

¹ Istituto per l'Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC, CNR), Calata Porta di Massa, Porto di Napoli, 80133, Napoli, Italy (e-mail: alfonsa.milia{at}iamc.cnr.it)
² Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse (IGG, CNR), Via Giorgio La Pira, 4, 50121, Firenze, Italy
³ Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Ambientali (DSGA), Università del Sannio, Via Portarsa 11, 82100, Benevento, Italy

The ad 79 Plinian eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum began with pumice falls deposited towards the SE of the volcano followed by pyroclastic currents directed towards the SW. These currents reached Herculaneum and rapidly entered the sea, forming a fan. The interpretation of seismic reflection profiles and gravity cores collected off Herculaneum documents a submarine fan-shaped pyroclastic body at 10–140 m water depth that we interpret as the submarine counterpart of the onshore pyroclastic current deposits. This fan, c. 0.3 km³ in volume, displays a chaotic seismic facies that changes seaward to parallel reflectors and then to wavy reflectors. Gravity cores reveal a succession consisting of centimetre-thick sand- or silt-sized ash couplets followed by a graded gravelly sand-sized bed up to 180 cm thick, containing shell fragments and beach-derived pebbles, overlain by centimetre-thick graded and laminated sandy ash layers. The depositional textures and sedimentary structures of the submarine pyroclastic fan have been interpreted as the product of the interactions between pyroclasts, water waves and tsunamis induced by the ad 79 pyroclastic density currents into the Bay of Naples.