A rare sequence of heating and cooling triggered the chain of chemical reactions that turn organic material into glass.

The extreme and rapid nature of Mount Vesuvius' pyroclastic flows vitrified the brain tissue of the unfortunate Roman soldier ...

A young man's brain turned into glass during Mount Vesuvius’ 79 AD eruption. Scientists now study how extreme heat preserved ...

was “completely charred and burst from being subjected to the intense heat of the pyroclastic ash surge, a high-speed turbulent cloud rich in hot gases, ash and steam,” as Petrone eloquently ...

But a 2001 study in Nature, co-authored by Italian archaeologist Pier Paolo Petrone, estimated a temperature of 500° Celsius (932° Fahrenheit) for the pyroclastic surge that destroyed Pompeii ...

Every single resident died instantly when the southern Italian town was hit by a 500°C pyroclastic hot surge. Pyroclastic flows are a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials that flow ...

Pyroclastic flows are extremely hot and fast ... the college died instantly from the impact with the hot volcanic ash surge,” study co-author Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist ...

Surge Deposits are a geological formation resulting from a pyroclastic surge-a fast-moving, ground-hugging flow of hot gas and volcanic particles ejected during explosive volcanic eruptions.

Located about 8km southeast of Vesuvius, Pompeii was violently pelted by falling pumice and ash for about 12 hours before its final destruction by what are called “pyroclastic surges”: fast ...