Table M7 Terminology relating to nutrient and other elemental abundances. The first five terms reflect biochemical usage; the last three reflect geochemical usage. See Epstein and Bloom (2005); Holland and Turekian (2004)
From: Micronutrients
Nutrient | Required by organisms for their growth and development. |
Essential element | Required by organisms to complete their normal life cycles. |
Macronutrient | A nutrient found in relatively high concentrations (>500 mg kg −1) in organic tissue: e.g. N, P, K. |
Micronutrient | A nutrient found in relatively low concentrations (<100 mg kg −1) in organic tissue. B, Cl, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo. |
Beneficial element | Elements not known to be essential, but beneficial for plant growth in certain soils and environments: Na, Al, Si, Ni, Co, La, Ce. |
Major element | Elements that each constitute more than 1 percent, and together constitute approximately 99 percent, of the mass of the lithosphere: O, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K. |
Minor element | Elements found in the lithosphere in amounts of 0.01 to 0.99 weight %. e.g. Ti, Mn, P. |
Trace element | Elements present in the lithosphere in less than 0.01 weight percentages. Of the micronutrients, all but Fe, and Mn are trace elements in geochemical terms. |