Thermal Annihilation Cause Of Death: What Is It?

Death by thermal annihilation is instant and painless, though it is painful to witnesses. Thermal annihilation occurs when extraordinarily high temperatures act on the human body, such as in the event of a pyroclastic flow following a volcanic eruption.

Human remains discovered at Pompeii and Herculaneum after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE provide insight into what happens after death by thermal annihilation.

The vast majority of bodies were discovered in a “pugilistic position,” which specialists define as having arms lifted and all muscles taut as if preparing to fight.

This indicates an immediate death, in which the body does not have time to go through the normal stages of post-mortem muscle relaxation and instead experiences a generalised spasm that causes it to freeze in place.

The pouring surge of lava, superheated gases, and debris in a pyroclastic or lava flow following a volcanic eruption obliterates any living thing in a matter of seconds, reaching temperatures as high as 1,830o F (1,000o C).

Skin cooks, internal organs break, and soft tissue boils and evaporates at these temperatures. The fluids and tissue that surround the brain can also boil, resulting in a near-instantaneous cranial explosion.