Abundance of elements in Earth's crust

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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 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[1] Relative proportion (ppm)[2] Crustal abundance (ppm)[3] Crustal abundance (ppm)[4] Crustal abundance (ppm)[5] Production (2012, tonnes)[6]
8 oxygen O 460,000 474,000 460,000 467,100 461,000
14 silicon [A] Si 277,200 277,100 270,000 276,900 282,000 7,600,000
13 aluminium Al 81,300 82,000 82,000 80,700 82,300 44,900,000
26 iron Fe 50,000 41,000 63,000 50,500 56,300 1,100,000,000
20 calcium Ca 36,300 41,000 50,000 36,500 41,500
11 sodium Na 28,300 23,000 23,000 27,500 23,600 280,000,000
19 potassium K 25,900 21,000 15,000 25,800 20,900 34,000
12 magnesium Mg 20,900 23,000 29,000 20,800 23,300 750,000
22 titanium Ti 4,400 5,600 6,600 6,200 5,600 6,500,000
1 hydrogen H 1,400 1,500 1,400 1,400
15 phosphorus P 1,200 1,000 1,000 1,300 1,050
25 manganese Mn 1,000 950 1,100 900 950 16,000,000
9 fluorine F 800 950 540 290 585
56 barium Ba 500 340 500 425
6 carbon [B] C 300 480 1,800 940 200
38 strontium Sr 370 360 370 380,000
16 sulfur S 500 260 420 520 350 70,000,000
40 zirconium Zr 190 130 250 165 1,420,000
74 tungsten W 160.6 1.1 1.25 73,000
23 vanadium V 100 160 190 120 63,000
17 chlorine Cl 500 130 170 450 145 280,000,000
24 chromium Cr 100 100 140 350 102 24,000,000
37 rubidium Rb 300 90 60 90
28 nickel Ni 80 90 190 84 2,100,000
30 zinc Zn 75 79 70 13,000,000
29 copper Cu 100 50 68 60 17,000,000
58 cerium Ce 68 60 66.5
60 neodymium Nd 38 33 41.5
57 lanthanum La 32 34 39
39 yttrium Y 30 29 33 8,900
7 nitrogen N 50 25 20 19 137,000,000
27 cobalt Co 20 30 25 110,000
3 lithium Li 20 17 20 37,000
41 niobium Nb 20 17 20 69,000
31 gallium Ga 18 19 19
21 scandium Sc 16 26 22
82 lead Pb 14 10 14 5,200,000
62 samarium Sm 7.9 6 7.05
90 thorium Th 12 6 9.6
59 praseodymium Pr 9.5 8.7 9.2
5 boron B 950 8.7 10 4,600,000
64 gadolinium Gd 7.7 5.2 6.2
66 dysprosium Dy 6 6.2 5.2
72 hafnium Hf 5.3 3.3 3.0
68 erbium Er 3.8 3.0 3.5
70 ytterbium Yb 3.3 2.8 3.2
55 caesium Cs 3 1.9 3
4 beryllium Be 2.6 1.9 2.8 230
50 tin Sn 0 2.2 2.2 2.3 230,000
63 europium Eu 2.1 1.8 2.0
92 uranium U 0 1.8 2.7 66,512
73 tantalum Ta 2 1.7 2.0 765
32 germanium Ge 1.8 1.4 1.5 128
42 molybdenum Mo 1.5 1.1 1.2 250,000
33 arsenic As 1.5 2.1 1.8 44,000
67 holmium Ho 1.4 1.2 1.3
65 terbium Tb 1.1 0.94 1.2
69 thulium Tm 0.48 0.45 0.52
35 bromine Br 0.37 3 2.4 580,000
81 thallium Tl 0.6 0.530 0.850 10
71 lutetium[7] Lu 0.5
51 antimony Sb 0.2 0.2 0.2 180,000
53 iodine I 0.14 0.490 0.450 28,000
48 cadmium Cd 0.11 0.15 0.15 23,000
47 silver Ag 0.070 0.080 0.075 24,000
80 mercury Hg 0.05 0.067 0.085 1,600
34 selenium Se 0.05 0.05 0.05 2,000
49 indium In 0.049 0.160 0.250 670
83 bismuth Bi 0.048 0.025 0.0085 7,400
52 tellurium Te 0.005 0.001 0.001
78 platinum Pt 0.003 0.0037 0.005 179
79 gold Au 0.0011 0.0031 0.004 2,700
44 ruthenium Ru 0.001 0.001 0.001
46 palladium Pd 0.0006 0.0063 0.015 200
75 rhenium Re 0.0004 0.0026 0.0007 52
77 iridium Ir 0.0003 0.0004 0.001
45 rhodium Rh 0.0002 0.0007 0.001
76 osmium Os 0.0001 0.0018 0.0015
  1. ^ 5,000 tonnes of annual production is electronic grade
  2. ^ sum of carbon content of coal, crude oil and natural gas

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Elements, Terrestrial Abundance". www.daviddarling.info. Archived from the original on 10 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  2. ^ Barbalace, Kenneth. "Periodic Table of Elements". Environmental Chemistry.com. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  3. ^ "Abundance in Earth's Crust". WebElements.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  4. ^ "List of Periodic Table Elements Sorted by Abundance in Earth's crust". Israel Science and Technology Homepage. Retrieved 2007-04-15. 
  5. ^ "It's Elemental — The Periodic Table of Elements". Jefferson Lab. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  6. ^ 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 ambiguos (many forms produced) and are taken for the pure element. U data is pure element required for consumption by current reactor fleet [1]. WNA.
  7. ^ Emsley, John (2001). Nature's building blocks: an A-Z guide to the elements. Oxford University Press. pp. 240–242. ISBN 0-19-850341-5. 
  • BookRags, Periodic Table.
  • World Book Encyclopedia, Exploring Earth.
  • HyperPhysics, Georgia State University, Abundance of Elements in Earth's Crust.
  • Data Series 140, Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States, Version 2011, USGS [2].
  • Eric Scerri, The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, 2007
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