The infamous Mount Vesuvius volcano in Italy produces elevated levels of radioactivity. And this is not due to some accident, as rather much of the volcano and its lavas display this same property. Thankfully, the level of radioactivity is not considered harmful, but is considered anomalous. So, why exactly does Mount Vesuvius produce elevated levels of radioactivity unlike at most other world volcanoes? Today's video will answer this question through the knowledge and analysis of a geologist. And yes, visiting Mount Vesuvius really IS safe. I visited it recently myself :D. Thumbnail Photo Credit: Keaton Terry, Used with Permission If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: http://patreon.com/geologyhub) (YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeGh5VML5XPr5jYnzh3J6g/join) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image): CC0 1.0: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode Sources/Citations: [1] INGV [2] Breit, G.N., and Hall, S.M., 2011, Deposit model for volcanogenic uranium deposits: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1255, 5 p. [3] The "isotopes of lanthanum" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanthanum, CC BY-SA 4.0. [4] The "isotopes of lutetium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutetium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [6] The "isotopes of potassium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [7] The "isotopes of rhenium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [8] The "isotopes of rubidium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubidium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [9] The "isotopes of samarium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [10] The "isotopes of thorium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [11] The "isotopes of uranium" chart on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium, CC BY-SA 4.0. [12] Radon surveys and monitoring at active volcanoes: learning from Vesuvius, Stromboli, La Soufrière and Villarrica C. Cigolini , M. Laiolo , D. Coppola , C. Trovato , and G. Borgogno [13] Riccardo Avanzinelli, Martina Casalini, Tim Elliott, Sandro Conticelli; Carbon fluxes from subducted carbonates revealed by uranium excess at Mount Vesuvius, Italy. Geology 2018;; 46 (3): 259–262. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G39766.1 [14] Rapolla, A., Vittozzi, P. Radioactivity of Vesuvian lavas and their dating by the disequilibrium Ra226 - U238 . Bull Volcanol 32, 353–364 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02599774 0:00 Vesuvius Radioactivity 1:27 Radioactive Isotopes 2:31 Vesuvius Model 4:13 Summit Fumaroles