Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Appendix A
Composition of the major
geological units
A
Table A.1
The table below recaps the composition of the Earth's main reservoirs and of the CI carbonaceous
chondrites, which serve as a reference for the composition of the Earth. The composition of the silicate Earth,
representing the Bulk Silicate Earth less the core and fluid envelopes, is discussed in the text. The
concentrations of many elements (nutrients) in the ocean are also highly variable and the values are
indicative only. ppm
Bulk Silicate Earth. A large amount of
data can be found on the Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM) internet site
=
parts per million, ppb
=
parts per billion. BSE
=
Cont.
crust
Upper
mantle
Ocean
(
μ
gl
−
1
)
Rivers
(
μ
gl
−
1
)
Element
N
M at
Chondr. CI
Earth
Core
BSE
Unit
ppm 1.11
×
10
8
H
1
1.01
20000
67.5
600
100
2.5
7.20
×
10
−
3
He
2
4.00
10
2
10
0
Li
3
6.94
1.5
1.08
0
1.6
11
1.568
ppm 1.78
×
3.0
×
0.0442 ppm 2.25
×
10
−
4
1.0
×
10
−
2
Be
4
9.01
0.025
0.046
0
0.068
10
3
B
5
10.81
0.900
0.203
0
0.3
0.075
ppm 4.39
×
ppm 2.64
×
10
4
C
6
12.01
35000
309
2000
120
18
10
3
N
7
14.01
3180
27
75
2
0.05
ppm 8.54
×
2.40
×
10
3
O
8
16.00
46
30.5
0
44
45
44
%
10
3
10
0
F
9
19.00
60
10.1
0
15
9.75
ppm 1.27
×
1.0
×
3.96
×
10
−
4
Ne
10
20.18
10
7
10
3
Na
11
22.99
0.510
0.180
0
0.267
2.37
0.214 %
1.08
×
6.0
×
1.26
×
10
6
4.1
×
10
3
Mg
12
24.31
9.65
15.39
0
23
2.65
22.8
%
1.62
×
10
−
1
5.0
×
10
1
Al
13
26.98
0.86
1.59
0
2.35
8.36
2.23
%
2.81
×
10
3
6.5
×
10
3
Si
14
28.09
10.7
17.10
6
21
27.61
21
%
ppm 6.00
×
10
1
2.0
×
10
1
P
15
30.97
1080
1101
3500
90
873
54
ppm 8.63
×
10
5
3.7
×
10
3
S
16
32.07
54000
6344
19000
250
238
ppm 1.94
×
10
7
7.8
×
10
3
Cl
17
35.45
680
11.5
200
17
2.55
5.99
×
10
2
Ar
18
39.95
ppm 3.89
×
10
5
3
×
10
3
K
19
39.10
550
162
0
240
15772
24
4.14
×
10
5
2
×
10
4
Ca
20
40.08
0.925
1.71
0
2.53
4.57
2.40
%
ppm 6.00
×
10
−
4
4
×
10
−
3
Sc
21
44.96
5.92
10.93
0
16.2
22
15.39
10
−
3
10
0
×
×
Ti
22
47.88
440
813
0 1205
4197
928
ppm 4.79
3
ppm 1.78
×
10
0
9
×
10
−
1
V
23
50.94
56
94.4
150
82
131
82
