Abundance of elements in Earth's crust

Abundance (atom fraction) of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust as a function of atomic number. The rarest elements in the crust (shown in yellow) are not the heaviest, but are rather the siderophile (iron-loving) elements in the Goldschmidt classification of elements. These have been depleted by being relocated deeper into the Earth's core. Their abundance in meteoroids materials is higher. Additionally, tellurium and selenium have been depleted from the crust due to formation of volatile hydrides.

The table shows the abundance of elements in Earth's crust. Numbers show percentage or parts per million (ppm) in mass; 10,000 ppm = 1%.

Note that numbers are estimates, and they will vary depending on source and method of estimation. Order of magnitude of data can roughly be relied upon.

Z	Element	Symbol	Lithosphere abundance	Relative proportion (ppm)	Crustal abundance (ppm)	Crustal abundance (ppm)	Crustal abundance (ppm)	Annual production (t)
8	oxygen	O	460,000	474,000	460,000	467,100	461,000	100,000,000
14	silicon	Si	277,200	277,100	270,000	276,900	282,000	3,880,000
13	aluminium	Al	81,300	82,000	82,000	80,700	82,300	30,000,000
26	iron	Fe	50,000	41,000	63,000	50,500	56,300	1,200,000,000
20	calcium	Ca	36,300	41,000	50,000	36,500	41,500	112,000,000
11	sodium	Na	28,300	23,000	23,000	27,500	23,600	200,000
19	potassium	K	25,900	21,000	15,000	25,800	20,900	36,000,000
12	magnesium	Mg	20,900	23,000	29,000	20,800	23,300	350,000
22	titanium	Ti	4,400	5,600	6,600	6,200	5,600	99,000
1	hydrogen	H	1,400	0	1,500	1,400	1,400	50,000,000
15	phosphorus	P	1,200	1,000	1,000	1,300	1,050	153,000,000
25	manganese	Mn	1,000	950	1,100	900	950	6,220,000
9	fluorine	F	800	950	540	290	585	4,000,000
56	barium	Ba		500	340	500	425	6,000,000
6	carbon	C	300	480	1,800	940	200	8,600,000,000
38	strontium	Sr		370	360		370	137,000
16	sulfur	S	500	260	420	520	350	54,000,000
40	zirconium	Zr		190	130	250	165	7,000
74	tungsten	W		160.6	190		1.25	45,100
23	vanadium	V	100	160	190		120	7,000
17	chlorine	Cl	500	130	170	450	145	50,000,000
24	chromium	Cr	100	100	140	350	102	4,000,000
37	rubidium	Rb	300	90	60		90	9
28	nickel	Ni		80	90	190	84	1,300,000
30	zinc	Zn		75	79		70	12,500,000
29	copper	Cu	100	50	68		60	15,000,000
58	cerium	Ce		68	60		66.5	24,000
60	neodymium	Nd		38	33		41.5	7,300
57	lanthanum	La		32	34		39	12,500
39	yttrium	Y		30	29		33	400
7	nitrogen	N	50	25	20		19	44,000,000
27	cobalt	Co		20	30		25	17,000
3	lithium	Li		20	17		20	39,000
41	niobium	Nb		20	17		20	15,000
31	gallium	Ga		18	19		19	30
21	scandium	Sc		16	26		22	0.50
82	lead	Pb		14	10		14	2,800,000
62	samarium	Sm		7.9	6		7.05	700
90	thorium	Th		12	6		9.6	31,000
59	praseodymium	Pr		9.5	8.7		9.2	2400
5	boron	B		950	8.7		10	1,000,000
64	gadolinium	Gd		7.7	5.2		6.2	400
66	dysprosium	Dy		6	6.2		5.2	100
72	hafnium	Hf		5.3	3.3		3.0	50
68	erbium	Er		3.8	3.0		3.5	500
70	ytterbium	Yb		3.3	2.8		3.2	50
55	caesium	Cs		3	1.9		3	20
4	beryllium	Be		2.6	1.9		2.8	364
50	tin	Sn	0	2.2	2.2		2.3	165,000
63	europium	Eu		2.1	1.8		2.0	400
92	uranium	U		0	1.8		2.7	45,000
73	tantalum	Ta		2	1.7		2.0	840
32	germanium	Ge		1.8	1.4		1.5	80
42	molybdenum	Mo		1.5	1.1		1.2	80,000
33	arsenic	As		1.5	2.1		1.8	47,000
67	holmium	Ho		1.4	1.2		1.3	10
65	terbium	Tb		1.1	0.94		1.2	10
69	thulium	Tm		0.48	0.45		0.52	50
35	bromine	Br		0.37	3		2.4	330,000
81	thallium	Tl		0.6	0.530		0.850	30
71	lutetium	Lu					0.5	10
51	antimony	Sb		0.2	0.2		0.2	53,000
53	iodine	I		0.14	0.490		0.450	30,000
48	cadmium	Cd		0.11	0.15		0.15	23,000
47	silver	Ag		0.070	0.080		0.075	23,000
80	mercury	Hg		0.05	0.067		0.085	8400
34	selenium	Se		0.05	0.05		0.05	600
49	indium	In		0.049	0.160		0.250	75
83	bismuth	Bi		0.048	0.025		0.0085	6000
52	tellurium	Te		0.005	0.001		0.001	215
78	platinum	Pt		0.003	0.0037		0.005	30
79	gold	Au		0.0011	0.0031		0.004	2,800
44	ruthenium	Ru		0.001	0.001		0.001	12
46	palladium	Pd		0.0006	0.0063		0.015	24
75	rhenium	Re		0.0004	0.0026		0.0007	4.5
77	iridium	Ir		0.0003	0.0004		0.001	3
45	rhodium	Rh		0.0002	0.0007		0.001	3
76	osmium	Os		0.0001	0.0018		0.0015	1

References

• BookRags, Periodic Table.
• World Book Encyclopedia, Exploring Earth.
• HyperPhysics, Georgia State University, Abundance of Elements in Earth's Crust.
• Minerals yearbook 2011, USGS Volume I. Metals and Minerals.

See also

• Abundances of the elements (data page)