Reading: Abundance of Elements in Earth's Crust

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 Atomic Number Element Symbol Lithosphere

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

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  1. 5,000 "tonnes of annual production is electronic grade"
  2. 5,000 "tonnes of annual production is electronic grade"

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