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Transition Elements

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definition

The transition elements are defined as having an electronic configuration of partially filled d- or f-orbitals. As a group they have a range of valence states and are responsible for the variety of colors and magnetic properties in many natural minerals and glasses. The multivalent nature of transition elements makes their distribution in fluids, gases, and minerals in natural geologic systems especially sensitive to temperature and redox state.

Abundance and Distribution

Only transition metals with unfilled d-shells are considered in this chapter. There are 29 such metals, subdivided by their position in the rows of the periodic table as first row (Sc – Zn), second row (Y to Cd), and third row (Hf – Hg) transition elements. The first row transition elements are the most abundant in the Sun, chondrites, and the bulk Earth compared to the other two groups. Iron is the most abundant transition element in the bulk Earth, maximized in concentration by nucleosynthetic...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Dante Canil

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  1. Dante Canil
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Correspondence to Dante Canil .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Canil, D. (2016). Transition Elements. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_230-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_230-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

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