Earth: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. 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.

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%).

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.

List of abundance by element

Abundance of chemical elements in Earth's (continental) crust, according to various sources
Element			Abundance by source (ppm)				Annual production (extraction)
Z	Name	Symbol	Darling	WebElements	Israel Science and Technology	CRC	(2016, tonnes)
8	oxygen	O	466,000	460,000	467,100	461,000 (46.1%)
14	silicon	Si	277,200	270,000	276,900	282,000 (28.2%)	7,200,000
13	aluminium	Al	81,300	82,000	80,700	82,300 (8.23%)	57,600,000
26	iron	Fe	50,000	63,000	50,500	56,300 (5.63%)	1,150,000,000
20	calcium	Ca	36,300	50,000	36,500	41,500 (4.15%)
11	sodium	Na	28,300	23,000	27,500	23,600 (2.36%)	255,000,000
12	magnesium	Mg	20,900	29,000	20,800	23,300 (2.33%)	27,700,000
19	potassium	K	25,900	15,000	25,800	20,900 (2.09%)
22	titanium	Ti	4,400	6,600	6,200	5,650 (0.565%)	6,600,000
1	hydrogen	H	1,400	1,500	1,400	1,400 (0.14%)
15	phosphorus	P	1,200	1,000	1,300	1,050 (0.105%)
25	manganese	Mn	1,000	1,100	900	950 (0.095%)	16,000,000
9	fluorine	F	800	540	290	585 (0.0585%)
56	barium	Ba	500	340	500	425 (0.0425%)
38	strontium	Sr		360		370 (0.037%)	350,000
16	sulfur	S	500	420	520	350 (0.035%)	69,300,000
6	carbon	C	300	1,800	940	200 (0.02%)	9,700,000,000
40	zirconium	Zr		130	250	165 (0.0165%)	1,460,000
17	chlorine	Cl	500	170	450	145 (0.0145%)
23	vanadium	V	100	190		120 (0.012%)	76,000
24	chromium	Cr	100	140	350	102 (0.0102%)	26,000,000
37	rubidium	Rb	300	60		90 (0.009%)
28	nickel	Ni		90	190	84 (0.0084%)	2,250,000
30	zinc	Zn		79		70 (0.007%)	11,900,000
58	cerium	Ce		60		66.5 (0.00665%)
29	copper	Cu	100	68		60 (0.006%)	19,400,000
60	neodymium	Nd		33		41.5 (0.00415%)
57	lanthanum	La		34		39 (0.0039%)
39	yttrium	Y		29		33 (0.0033%)	6,000
7	nitrogen	N	50	20		19 (0.0019%)	140,000,000
27	cobalt	Co		30		25 (0.0025%)	123,000
21	scandium	Sc		26		22 (0.0022%)
3	lithium	Li		17		20 (0.002%)	35,000
41	niobium	Nb		17		20 (0.002%)	64,000
31	gallium	Ga		19		19 (0.0019%)	315
82	lead	Pb		10		14 (0.0014%)	4,820,000
5	boron	B		8.7		10 (0.001%)	9,400,000
90	thorium	Th		6		9.6 (0.00096%)
59	praseodymium	Pr		8.7		9.2 (0.00092%)
62	samarium	Sm		6		7.05 (0.000705%)
64	gadolinium	Gd		5.2		6.2 (0.00062%)
66	dysprosium	Dy		6.2		5.2 (0.00052%)
68	erbium	Er		3.0		3.5 (0.00035%)
18	argon	Ar				3.5 (0.00035%)
70	ytterbium	Yb		2.8		3.2 (0.00032%)
72	hafnium	Hf		3.3		3.0 (0.0003%)
55	caesium	Cs		1.9		3.0 (0.0003%)
4	beryllium	Be		1.9		2.8 (0.00028%)	220
92	uranium	U		1.8		2.7 (0.00027%)	74,119
35	bromine	Br		3		2.4 (0.00024%)	391,000
50	tin	Sn	0	2.2		9.8 (0.00098%)	280,000
73	tantalum	Ta		1.7		2.0 (0.0002%)	1,100
63	europium	Eu		1.8		2.0 (0.0002%)
33	arsenic	As		2.1		1.8 (0.00018%)	36,500
32	germanium	Ge		1.4		1.5 (0.00015%)	155
74	tungsten	W		1.1		1.25 (0.000125%)	86,400
67	holmium	Ho		1.2		1.3 (0.00013%)
42	molybdenum	Mo		1.1		1.2 (0.00012%)	227,000
65	terbium	Tb		0.9400		1.2 (0.00012%)
81	thallium	Tl		0.5300		0.85 (8.5×10−5%)	10
71	lutetium	Lu				0.8 (8×10−5%)
69	thulium	Tm		0.4500		0.52 (5.2×10−5%)
53	iodine	I		0.4900		0.45 (4.5×10−5%)	31,600
49	indium	In		0.1600		0.25 (2.5×10−5%)	655
51	antimony	Sb		0.2000		0.2 (2×10−5%)	130,000
48	cadmium	Cd		0.1500		0.15 (1.5×10−5%)	23,000
80	mercury	Hg		0.0670		0.085 (8.5×10−6%)	4,500
47	silver	Ag		0.0800		0.075 (7.5×10−6%)	27,000
34	selenium	Se		0.0500		0.05 (5×10−6%)	2,200
46	palladium	Pd		0.0063		0.015 (1.5×10−6%)	208
83	bismuth	Bi		0.0250		0.0085 (8.5×10−7%)	10,200
2	helium	He				0.008 (8×10−7%)
10	neon	Ne				0.0051 (5.1×10−7%)
78	platinum	Pt		0.0037		0.005 (5×10−7%)	172
79	gold	Au		0.0031		0.004 (4×10−7%)	3,100
76	osmium	Os		0.0018		0.0015 (1.5×10−7%)
52	tellurium	Te		0.0010		0.001 (1×10−7%)	2,200
44	ruthenium	Ru		0.0010		0.001 (1×10−7%)
77	iridium	Ir		0.0004		0.001 (1×10−7%)
45	rhodium	Rh		0.0007		0.001 (1×10−7%)
75	rhenium	Re		0.0026		0.0007 (7×10−8%)	47.2
36	krypton	Kr				0.0001 (1×10−8%)
54	xenon	Xe				3×10−5 (3×10−9%)
91	protactinium	Pa				1.4×10−6 (1.4×10−10%)
88	radium	Ra				9×10−7 (9×10−11%)
84	polonium	Po				2×10−10 (2×10−14%)
94	plutonium	Pu				3×10−11 (3×10−15%)
93	neptunium	Np				3×10−12 (3×10−16%)
43	technetium	Tc				1.35×10−12 (1.35×10−16%)
89	actinium	Ac				6×10−13 (6×10−17%)
86	radon	Rn				4×10−13 (4×10−17%)
61	promethium	Pm				2×10−17 (2×10−21%)
87	francium	Fr				1×10−18 (1×10−22%)
85	astatine	At				3×10−20 (3×10−24%)

See also

• Abundances of the elements (data page)
• Atmospheric chemistry
• Clarke number — lists of historical data and terminology
• List of chemical elements
• Primordial nuclide

References

• 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