Definition
Geochemists classify elements in various ways based on their abundance, behavior, and distribution in the Earth.
Introduction
Elements can be qualitatively classified into major (>0.4 wt%), minor (0.1–0.4 wt%), and traceelements (<0.1 wt%). Major elements are those that define the primary structure of a given phase, which can be a mineral, liquid, or vapor. Major elements are abundant enough that they dictate a system’s physical properties, including the assemblage of phases. Trace elements are not essential to the structure of a phase and do not directly influence the properties of a phase or system. Instead, trace elements occur passively as dissolved constituents or in the form of minor amounts of accessory phases. The distribution of elements on Earth is heterogeneous, ranging from the scale of hundreds to thousands of kilometers in the form of the Earth’s layered structure (core, mantle, crust, ocean, and atmosphere) down to the scale of millimeters or less in the...
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Lee, CT. (2016). Geochemical Classification of 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_255-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_255-1
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