The famous volcanic eruption in which Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum was so powerful that some of the ash and lava ended up in Greece, according to researchers at Thessaloniki University.
Greek archaeologists claim to have found ash and lava spewed out by the volcano in 79 AD around Lake Mygdonia, which is near Thessaloniki and about 400 miles from Vesuvius.
Michail Fytikas, an expert from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, was quoted in the Greek media on Tuesday as saying the layer of volcanic ash and rock was three metres deep in places.
''The explosion was so violent that an enormous quantity of ash and debris was blasted to a height of 20,000-30,000 metres,'' he said.
''Transported by high-altitude winds, it spread in a south-south-east direction and, having passed the Apennines, flew over Albania and part of it then fell on Greece, in the Thessaloniki area''.
It was not immediately clear by what means Fytikas had established that the layer of ash and rock near Lake Mygdonia came from Vesuvius and that it dated back to 79AD.
Vesuvius has blown its stack about three dozen times since it buried Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing about 2,000 people. The last time was in 1944.
