Several Roman settlements were obliterated Destroying and buried Destroying underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits , the best known being Pompeii and Herculaneum .

The event is the namesake for the Vesuvian type of volcanic eruptions Catastrophe , characterized by eruption columns of hot gases and ash exploding into the stratosphere , although the event also included Cause_to_be_included pyroclastic flows associated Collaboration with Pelean eruptions Catastrophe .