Page 20 - Soil and water contamination, 2nd edition

General introduction 7

Table 1.1 The average composition of the Earth’s continental crust* (after Wedepohl, 1995).
Element Average Element Average
Concentration Concentration
O 47.2 % Hf 4.9 ppm
Si 28.8 % Gd 4.0 ppm
Al 7.96 % Dy 3.8 ppm
Fe 4.32 % Cs 3.4 ppm
Ca 3.85 % Be 2.4 ppm
Na 2.36 % Sn 2.3 ppm
Mg 2.2 % Er 2.1 ppm
K 2.14 % Yb 2.0 ppm
Ti 4010 ppm As 1.7 ppm
C 1990 ppm U 1.7 ppm
P 757 ppm Ge 1.4 ppm
Mn 716 ppm Eu 1.3 ppm
S 697 ppm Ta 1.1 ppm
Ba 584 ppm Mo 1.1 ppm
F 525 ppm Br 1.0 ppm
Cl 472 ppm W 1.0 ppm
Sr 333 ppm I 800 ppb
Zr 203 ppm Ho 800 ppb
Cr 136 ppm Tb 650 ppb
V 98 ppm Tl 520 ppb
Rb 78 ppm Lu 350 ppb
Zn 65 ppm Tm 300 ppb
N 60 ppm Sb 300 ppb
Ce 60 ppm Se 120 ppb
Ni 56 ppm Cd 100 ppb
La 30 ppm Bi 85 ppb
Nd 27 ppm Ag 70 ppb
Cu 25 ppm In 50 ppb
Co 24 ppm Hg 40 ppb
Y 24 ppm Te 5 ppb
Nb 19 ppm Au 2.5 ppb
Li 18 ppm Pd 0.4 ppb
Sc 16 ppm Pt 0.4 ppb
Ga 15 ppm Re 0.4 ppb
Pb 14.8 ppm Ru 0.1 ppb
B 11 ppm Rh 0.06 ppb
Th 8.5 ppm Os 0.05 ppb
Pr 6.7 ppm Ir 0.05 ppb
Sm 5.3 ppm

* ppm = parts per million and ppb = parts per billion (see Section 2.2). This table does not include elements
with an average concentration of less than 0.05 ppb (e.g. Ne, Kr, Xe), and short-lived radioactive elements.

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