how those encased in the Pompeii volcano were encased so perfectly?
In: Biology
The bodies were covered very quickly with ash and lava. And while people died instantly from this it takes time for a body to burn up. There is a lot of mass and a lot of water that needs to be heated first. So the lava had time to cool and harden around the bodies first. Especially those covered in the colder ash which compacted around them and sintered to stone from the heat with their dead bodies inside. In this rock there have been little oxygen and microbes to decompose the bodies. The heat have also caused some of what was previously biological material to survive. However most of the bodies that can be seen today are castings of the voids left by the bodies.
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