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 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.

Rank	Z	Element	Symbol	Lithosphere abundance	Relative proportion (ppm)	Abundance in crust (ppm)	Abundance in crust (ppm)	Abundance in crust (ppm)	Production (2012, tonnes)
1	8	oxygen	O	460,000	474,000	460,000	467,100	461,000
2	14	silicon	Si	277,200	277,100	270,000	276,900	282,000	7,600,000
3	13	aluminium	Al	81,300	82,000	82,000	80,700	82,300	44,900,000
4	26	iron	Fe	50,000	41,000	63,000	50,500	56,300	1,100,000,000
5	20	calcium	Ca	36,300	41,000	50,000	36,500	41,500
6	11	sodium	Na	28,300	23,000	23,000	27,500	23,600	280,000,000
7	19	potassium	K	25,900	21,000	15,000	25,800	20,900	34,000
8	12	magnesium	Mg	20,900	23,000	29,000	20,800	23,300	750,000
9	22	titanium	Ti	4,400	5,600	6,600	6,200	5,600	6,500,000
10	1	hydrogen	H	1,400		1,500	1,400	1,400
11	15	phosphorus	P	1,200	1,000	1,000	1,300	1,050
12	25	manganese	Mn	1,000	950	1,100	900	950	16,000,000
13	9	fluorine	F	800	950	540	290	585
14	56	barium	Ba	500	340	340	500	425
15	6	carbon	C	300	480	1,800	940	200
16	38	strontium	Sr		370	360		370	380,000
17	16	sulfur	S	500	260	420	520	350	70,000,000
18	40	zirconium	Zr		190	130	250	165	1,420,000
19	74	tungsten	W		160.6	1.1		1.25	73,000
20	23	vanadium	V	100	160	190		120	63,000
21	17	chlorine	Cl	500	130	170	450	145	280,000,000
22	24	chromium	Cr	100	100	140	350	102	7,890,000
23	37	rubidium	Rb	300	90	60		90
24	28	nickel	Ni		80	90	190	84	2,100,000
25	30	zinc	Zn		75	79		70	13,000,000
26	29	copper	Cu	100	50	68		60	17,000,000
27	58	cerium	Ce		68	60		66.5
28	60	neodymium	Nd		38	33		41.5
29	57	lanthanum	La		32	34		39
30	39	yttrium	Y		30	29		33	8,900
31	7	nitrogen	N	50	25	20		19	137,000,000
32	27	cobalt	Co		20	30		25	110,000
33	3	lithium	Li		20	17		20	37,000
34	41	niobium	Nb		20	17		20	69,000
35	31	gallium	Ga		18	19		19
36	21	scandium	Sc		16	26		22
37	82	lead	Pb		14	10		14	5,200,000
38	62	samarium	Sm		7.9	6		7.05
39	90	thorium	Th		12	6		9.6
40	59	praseodymium	Pr		9.5	8.7		9.2
41	5	boron	B		950	8.7		10	4,600,000
42	64	gadolinium	Gd		7.7	5.2		6.2
43	66	dysprosium	Dy		6	6.2		5.2
44	72	hafnium	Hf		5.3	3.3		3.0
45	68	erbium	Er		3.8	3.0		3.5
46	70	ytterbium	Yb		3.3	2.8		3.2
47	55	caesium	Cs		3	1.9		3
48	4	beryllium	Be		2.6	1.9		2.8	230
49	50	tin	Sn	0	2.2	2.2		2.3	230,000
50	63	europium	Eu		2.1	1.8		2.0
51	92	uranium	U		0	1.8		2.7	66,512
52	73	tantalum	Ta		2	1.7		2.0	765
53	32	germanium	Ge		1.8	1.4		1.5	128
54	42	molybdenum	Mo		1.5	1.1		1.2	250,000
55	33	arsenic	As		1.5	2.1		1.8	44,000
56	67	holmium	Ho		1.4	1.2		1.3
57	65	terbium	Tb		1.1	0.94		1.2
58	69	thulium	Tm		0.48	0.45		0.52
59	35	bromine	Br		0.37	3		2.4	580,000
60	81	thallium	Tl		0.6	0.530		0.850	10
61	71	lutetium	Lu					0.5
62	51	antimony	Sb		0.2	0.2		0.2	180,000
63	53	iodine	I		0.14	0.490		0.450	28,000
64	48	cadmium	Cd		0.11	0.15		0.15	23,000
65	47	silver	Ag		0.070	0.080		0.075	24,000
66	80	mercury	Hg		0.05	0.067		0.085	1,600
67	34	selenium	Se		0.05	0.05		0.05	2,000
68	49	indium	In		0.049	0.160		0.250	670
69	83	bismuth	Bi		0.048	0.025		0.0085	7,400
70	52	tellurium	Te		0.005	0.001		0.001
71	78	platinum	Pt		0.003	0.0037		0.005	179
72	79	gold	Au		0.0011	0.0031		0.004	2,700
73	44	ruthenium	Ru		0.001	0.001		0.001
74	46	palladium	Pd		0.0006	0.0063		0.015	200
75	75	rhenium	Re		0.0004	0.0026		0.0007	52
76	77	iridium	Ir		0.0003	0.0004		0.001
77	45	rhodium	Rh		0.0002	0.0007		0.001
78	76	osmium	Os		0.0001	0.0018		0.0015

See also

• Abundances of the elements (data page)

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 [1].
• Eric Scerri, The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, 2007

• 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 [2]. WNA.