Abundance of elements in Earth's crust

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The abundance of elements in Earth's crust is shown in tabulated form with the estimated crustal abundance for each chemical element shown as mg/kg, or parts per million (ppm) by mass (10,000 ppm = 1%).

Reservoirs

The Earth's crust is one "reservoir" for measurements of abundance. A reservoir is any large body to be studied as unit, like the ocean, atmosphere, mantle or crust. Different reservoirs may have different relative amounts of each element due to different chemical or mechanical processes involved in the creation of the reservoir.¹: 18

Difficulties in measurement

Estimates of elemental abundance are difficult because (a) the composition of the upper and lower crust are quite different, and (b) the composition of the continental crust can vary drastically by locality.² The composition of the Earth changed after its formation due to loss of volatile compounds, melting and recrystalization, selective loss of some elements to the deep interior, and erosion by water.³: 55 The lanthanides are especially difficult to measure accurately.⁴

Graphs of abundance vs atomic number

Graphs of abundance against atomic number can reveal patterns relating abundance to stellar nucleosynthesis and geochemistry. The alternation of abundance between even and odd atomic number is known as the Oddo–Harkins rule. The rarest elements in the crust are not the heaviest, but are rather the siderophile elements (iron-loving) in the Goldschmidt classification of elements. These have been depleted by being relocated deeper into the Earth's core; their abundance in meteoroids is higher. Tellurium and selenium are concentrated as sulfides in the core and have also been depleted by preaccretional sorting in the nebula that caused them to form volatile hydrogen selenide and hydrogen telluride.⁵

List of abundance by element

This table gives the estimated abundance in parts per million by mass of elements in the continental crust; values of the less abundant elements may vary with location by several orders of magnitude.⁶

Colour indicates each element's Goldschmidt classification:

Lithophile

Siderophile

Atmophile

Chalcophile

Trace

Abundance of chemical elements in Earth's (continental) crust

Z	Element	Symbol	Goldschmidt classification	Abundance (ppm)⁷	Productiontonnes/year⁸
8	oxygen	O	Lithophile	461,000 (46.1%)	10,335,000	⁹
14	silicon	Si	Lithophile	282,000 (28.2%)	7,200,000
13	aluminium	Al	Lithophile	82,300 (8.23%)	57,600,000
26	iron	Fe	Siderophile	56,300 (5.63%)	1,150,000,000
20	calcium	Ca	Lithophile	41,500 (4.15%)	18,000
11	sodium	Na	Lithophile	23,600 (2.36%)	255,000,000
12	magnesium	Mg	Lithophile	23,300 (2.33%)	27,700,000
19	potassium	K	Lithophile	20,900 (2.09%)	53,200,000	¹⁰
22	titanium	Ti	Lithophile	5,650 (0.565%)	6,600,000
1	hydrogen	H	Atmophile	1,400 (0.14%)	75,000,000	¹¹
15	phosphorus	P	Lithophile	1,050 (0.105%)	226,000,000	¹²
25	manganese	Mn	Lithophile	950 (0.095%)	16,000,000
9	fluorine	F	Lithophile	585 (0.0585%)	17,000
56	barium	Ba	Lithophile	425 (0.0425%)	6,000,000	¹³
38	strontium	Sr	Lithophile	370 (0.037%)	350,000
16	sulfur	S	Chalcophile	350 (0.035%)	69,300,000
6	carbon	C	Atmophile	200 (0.02%)	9,700,000,000
40	zirconium	Zr	Lithophile	165 (0.0165%)	1,460,000
17	chlorine	Cl	Lithophile	145 (0.0145%)	71,250,000	¹⁴
23	vanadium	V	Lithophile	120 (0.012%)	76,000
24	chromium	Cr	Lithophile	102 (0.0102%)	26,000,000
37	rubidium	Rb	Lithophile	90 (0.009%)	2
28	nickel	Ni	Siderophile	84 (0.0084%)	2,250,000
30	zinc	Zn	Chalcophile	70 (0.007%)	11,900,000
58	cerium	Ce	Lithophile	66.5 (0.00665%)	24,000	¹⁵
29	copper	Cu	Chalcophile	60 (0.006%)	19,400,000
60	neodymium	Nd	Lithophile	41.5 (0.00415%)	7,000	¹⁶
57	lanthanum	La	Lithophile	39 (0.0039%)	12,500	¹⁷
39	yttrium	Y	Lithophile	33 (0.0033%)	6,000
27	cobalt	Co	Siderophile	25 (0.0025%)	123,000
21	scandium	Sc	Lithophile	22 (0.0022%)	14	¹⁸
3	lithium	Li	Lithophile	20 (0.002%)	35,000
41	niobium	Nb	Lithophile	20 (0.002%)	64,000
7	nitrogen	N	Atmophile	19 (0.0019%)	140,000,000
31	gallium	Ga	Chalcophile	19 (0.0019%)	315
82	lead	Pb	Chalcophile	14 (0.0014%)	4,820,000
5	boron	B	Lithophile	10 (0.001%)	9,400,000
90	thorium	Th	Lithophile	9.6 (0.00096%)	5,000	¹⁹
59	praseodymium	Pr	Lithophile	9.2 (0.00092%)	2,500	²⁰
62	samarium	Sm	Lithophile	7.05 (0.000705%)	700	²¹
64	gadolinium	Gd	Lithophile	6.2 (0.00062%)	400	²²
66	dysprosium	Dy	Lithophile	5.2 (0.00052%)
68	erbium	Er	Lithophile	3.5 (0.00035%)	500	²³
18	argon	Ar	Atmophile	3.5 (0.00035%)
70	ytterbium	Yb	Lithophile	3.2 (0.00032%)
72	hafnium	Hf	Lithophile	3.0 (0.0003%)
55	caesium	Cs	Lithophile	3.0 (0.0003%)
4	beryllium	Be	Lithophile	2.8 (0.00028%)	220
92	uranium	U	Lithophile	2.7 (0.00027%)	74,119
35	bromine	Br	Lithophile	2.4 (0.00024%)	391,000
50	tin	Sn	Chalcophile	2.3 (0.00023%)	280,000
73	tantalum	Ta	Lithophile	2.0 (0.0002%)	1,100
63	europium	Eu	Lithophile	2.0 (0.0002%)
33	arsenic	As	Chalcophile	1.8 (0.00018%)	36,500
32	germanium	Ge	Chalcophile	1.5 (0.00015%)	155
67	holmium	Ho	Lithophile	1.3 (0.00013%)
74	tungsten	W	Siderophile	1.25 (0.000125%)	86,400
42	molybdenum	Mo	Siderophile	1.2 (0.00012%)	227,000
65	terbium	Tb	Lithophile	1.2 (0.00012%)
81	thallium	Tl	Chalcophile	0.85 (8.5×10−5%)	10
71	lutetium	Lu	Lithophile	0.8 (8×10−5%)
69	thulium	Tm	Lithophile	0.52 (5.2×10−5%)
53	iodine	I	Lithophile	0.45 (4.5×10−5%)	31,600
49	indium	In	Chalcophile	0.25 (2.5×10−5%)	655
51	antimony	Sb	Chalcophile	0.2 (2×10−5%)	130,000
48	cadmium	Cd	Chalcophile	0.15 (1.5×10−5%)	23,000
80	mercury	Hg	Chalcophile	0.085 (8.5×10−6%)	4,500
47	silver	Ag	Chalcophile	0.075 (7.5×10−6%)	27,000
34	selenium	Se	Chalcophile	0.05 (5×10−6%)	2,200
46	palladium	Pd	Siderophile	0.015 (1.5×10−6%)	208
83	bismuth	Bi	Chalcophile	0.0085 (8.5×10−7%)	10,200
2	helium	He	Atmophile	0.008 (8×10−7%)
10	neon	Ne	Atmophile	0.005 (5×10−7%)
78	platinum	Pt	Siderophile	0.005 (5×10−7%)	172
79	gold	Au	Siderophile	0.004 (4×10−7%)	3,100
76	osmium	Os	Siderophile	0.0015 (1.5×10−7%)
52	tellurium	Te	Chalcophile	0.001 (1×10−7%)	2,200
44	ruthenium	Ru	Siderophile	0.001 (1×10−7%)
77	iridium	Ir	Siderophile	0.001 (1×10−7%)
45	rhodium	Rh	Siderophile	0.001 (1×10−7%)
75	rhenium	Re	Siderophile	0.0007 (7×10−8%)	47.2
36	krypton	Kr	Atmophile	0.0001 (1×10−8%)
54	xenon	Xe	Atmophile	3×10−5 (3×10−9%)
91	protactinium	Pa	trace	1.4×10−6 (1.4×10−10%)
88	radium	Ra	trace	9×10−7 (9×10−11%)
89	actinium	Ac	trace	5.5×10−10 (6×10−14%)
84	polonium	Po	trace	2×10−10 (2×10−14%)
86	radon	Rn	trace	4×10−13 (4×10−17%)
43	technetium	Tc	trace
61	promethium	Pm	trace
85	astatine	At	trace
87	francium	Fr	trace
94	plutonium	Pu	trace
93	neptunium	Np	trace

External links

BookRags, Periodic Table.
World Book Encyclopedia, Exploring Earth.
HyperPhysics, Georgia State University, Abundance of Elements in Earth's Crust.
Eric Scerri, The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, 2007
"EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) -- Major Element Composition of the Core vs the Bulk Earth". earthref.org. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
"GERM Reservoir Database -- Reservoir Data Model". earthref.org. Retrieved 2024-03-22.

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