Abundance of elements in Earth's crust

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.

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.Kring, David A. "Composition of Earth's continental crust as inferred from the compositions of impact melt sheets". 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 17–21, 1997, Houston, TX, p. 763. Vol. 28. 1997. 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. The lanthanides are especially difficult to measure accurately.Surendra P. Verma, E. Santoyo & Fernando Velasco-Tapia (2002) "Statistical Evaluation of Analytical Methods for the Determination of Rare-Earth Elements in Geological Materials and Implications for Detection Limits", International Geology Review, 44:4, 287–335, (note geochemists refer to lanthanides as rare earth per ref.).

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.Anderson, Don L.; "Chemical Composition of the Mantle", Theory of the Earth, pp. 147–175

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."Abundance of Elements in the Earth's Crust and in the Sea", CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 97th edition (2016–2017), sec. 14, pg. 17

+:LithophileSiderophileAtmophileChalcophileTrace

+ Most toLeastZ Element Symbol Goldschmidt classification Abundance (ppm) Extractiontonnes/year2016 extraction per Commodity Statistics and Information . USGS. All production numbers are for mines, except for Al, Cd, Fe, Ge, In, N, Se (plants, refineries), S (all forms) and As, Br, Mg, Si (unspecified). Data for B, K, Ti, Y are given not for the pure element but for the most common oxide, data for Na and Cl are for NaCl. For many elements like Si, Al, data are ambiguous (many forms produced) and are taken for the pure element. U data is pure element required for consumption by current reactor fleet . WNA.1. 8 oxygen O Lithophile 461,000 (46.1%) 10,335,000 2. 14 silicon Si Lithophile 282,000 (28.2%)7,200,000 3. 13 aluminium Al Lithophile 82,300 (8.23%)57,600,000 4. 26 iron Fe Siderophile 56,300 (5.63%)1,150,000,000 5. 20 calcium Ca Lithophile 41,500 (4.15%) 18,000 6. 11 sodium Na Lithophile 23,600 (2.36%)255,000,000 7. 12 magnesium Mg Lithophile 23,300 (2.33%)27,700,000 8. 19 potassium K Lithophile 20,900 (2.09%)53,200,000 9. 22 titanium Ti Lithophile 5,650 (0.565%)6,600,000 10. 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 13. 9 fluorine F Lithophile 585 (0.0585%) 17,000 14. 56 barium Ba Lithophile 425 (0.0425%) 6,000,000 15. 38 strontium Sr Lithophile 370 (0.037%)350,000 16. 16 sulfur S Chalcophile 350 (0.035%)69,300,000 17. 6 carbon C Atmophile 200 (0.02%) 9,700,000,000 18. 40 zirconium Zr Lithophile 165 (0.0165%)1,460,000 19. 17 chlorine Cl Lithophile 145 (0.0145%)71,250,000 20. 23 vanadium V Lithophile 120 (0.012%)76,000 21. 24 chromium Cr Lithophile 102 (0.0102%)26,000,000 22. 37 rubidium Rb Lithophile 90 (0.009%) 2 23. 28 nickel Ni Siderophile 84 (0.0084%)2,250,000 24. 30 zinc Zn Chalcophile 70 (0.007%)11,900,000 25. 58 cerium Ce Lithophile 66.5 (0.00665%) 24,000 26. 29 copper Cu Chalcophile 60 (0.006%)19,400,000 27. 60 neodymium Nd Lithophile 41.5 (0.00415%) 7,000 28. 57 lanthanum La Lithophile 39 (0.0039%) 12,500 29. 39 yttrium Y Lithophile 33 (0.0033%)6,000 30. 27 cobalt Co Siderophile 25 (0.0025%)123,000 31. 21 scandium Sc Lithophile 22 (0.0022%) 14 32. 3 lithium Li Lithophile 20 (0.002%)35,000 33. 41 niobium Nb Lithophile 20 (0.002%)64,000 34. 7 nitrogen N Atmophile 19 (0.0019%)140,000,000 35. 31 gallium Ga Chalcophile 19 (0.0019%) 315 36. 82 lead Pb Chalcophile 14 (0.0014%)4,820,000 37. 5 boron B Lithophile 10 (0.001%)9,400,000 38. 90 thorium Th Lithophile 9.6 (0.00096%) 5,000 39. 59 praseodymium Pr Lithophile 9.2 (0.00092%) 2,500 40. 62 samarium Sm Lithophile 7.05 (0.000705%) 700 41. 64 gadolinium Gd Lithophile 6.2 (0.00062%) 400 42. 66 dysprosium Dy Lithophile 5.2 (0.00052%) 0.2 43. 68 erbium Er Lithophile 3.5 (0.00035%) 500 44.18 argonAr Atmophile3.5 (0.00035%) 45. 70 ytterbium Yb Lithophile 3.2 (0.00032%) 46. 72 hafnium Hf Lithophile 3.0 (0.0003%) 35 47. 55 caesium Cs Lithophile 3.0 (0.0003%) 48. 4 beryllium Be Lithophile 2.8 (0.00028%)220 49. 92 uranium U Lithophile 2.7 (0.00027%)74,119 50. 35 bromine Br Lithophile 2.4 (0.00024%)391,000 51. 50 tin Sn Chalcophile 2.3 (0.00023%)280,000 52. 73 tantalum Ta Lithophile 2.0 (0.0002%)1,100 53. 63 europium Eu Lithophile 2.0 (0.0002%) 35.8 54. 33 arsenic As Chalcophile 1.8 (0.00018%)36,500 55. 32 germanium Ge Chalcophile 1.5 (0.00015%)155 56. 67 holmium Ho Lithophile 1.3 (0.00013%) 57. 74 tungsten W Siderophile 1.25 (0.000125%)86,400 58. 42 molybdenum Mo Siderophile 1.2 (0.00012%)227,000 59. 65 terbium Tb Lithophile 1.2 (0.00012%) 60. 81 thallium Tl Chalcophile 0.85 (8.5%) 10 61.71 lutetiumLu Lithophile 0.8 (8%) 62. 69 thulium Tm Lithophile 0.52 (5.2%) 63. 53 iodine I Lithophile 0.45 (4.5%)31,600 64. 49 indium In Chalcophile 0.25 (2.5%)655 65. 51 antimony Sb Chalcophile 0.2 (2%)130,000 66. 48 cadmium Cd Chalcophile 0.15 (1.5%) 23,000 67. 80 mercury Hg Chalcophile 0.085 (8.5%)4,500 68. 47 silver Ag Chalcophile 0.075 (7.5%)27,000 69. 34 selenium Se Chalcophile 0.05 (5%)2,200 70. 46 palladium Pd Siderophile 0.015 (1.5%) 208 71. 83 bismuth Bi Chalcophile 0.0085 (8.5%)10,200 72.2 heliumHe Atmophile0.008 (8%) 73.10 neonNe Atmophile0.005 (5%) 74. 78 platinum Pt Siderophile 0.005 (5%)172 75. 79 gold Au Siderophile 0.004 (4%)3,100 76. 76 osmium Os Siderophile 0.0015 (1.5%) 77. 52 tellurium Te Chalcophile 0.001 (1%)2,200 78. 44 ruthenium Ru Siderophile 0.001 (1%) 30 79. 77 iridium Ir Siderophile 0.001 (1%) 7.3 80. 45 rhodium Rh Siderophile 0.001 (1%) 30 81. 75 rhenium Re Siderophile 0.0007 (7%) 47.2 82.36 kryptonKr Atmophile0.0001 (1%) 83.54 xenonXe Atmophile3 (3%) 84.91 protactiniumPa trace1.4 (1.4%) 85.88 radiumRa trace9 (9%) 86.89 actiniumAc trace5.5 (6%) 87.84 poloniumPo trace2 (2%) 88.86 radonRn trace4 (4%) 89.43 technetiumTc trace3 (3%) 90.61 promethiumPm trace2 (2%)| 91.87 franciumFr trace1 (1%)| 92.85 astatineAt trace3 (3%)| 93.94 plutoniumPu trace 94.93 neptuniumNp trace

See also Abundance of the chemical elements

References

Abundance of elements in Earth's crust

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