Vol­ca­noes are all over the world. There are those that are active, dor­mant, or inac­tive. Active vol­ca­noes are the most com­mon, with over 500 around the world. Some famous vol­ca­noes include: Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Vesu­vius, and Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mount Vesu­vius, known for erupt­ing and cov­er­ing the city of Pom­peii, erupted more than 1900 years ago, cov­er­ing, not only Pom­peii, but also Her­cu­la­neum, Stabiae, and the sur­round­ing countryside.

In 79 C.E., Mount Vesu­vius erupted. Only those that heeded the warn­ing sur­vived. Most of the inhab­i­tants didn’t want to leave their lifestyle, and thought that by stay­ing behind, they would sur­vive. Oth­ers couldn’t decide on whether or not to stay or go, and the inde­ci­sion cost them their lives. The peo­ple and things cov­ered by the lava and ash are still their, and in good shape. The peo­ple look more like stat­ues now, and some of them can be seen hold­ing on to or near the valu­ables they tried to take with them.

There have been many explo­sions in his­tory, some very dam­ag­ing, oth­ers not so much. How­ever, vol­ca­noes, with their magma (which is inside the vol­cano, and the lava (which is what comes out of it), vol­ca­noes are both deadly, and awesome.