Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Calcium

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

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

  • 286 Accesses

FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Ca

Atomic Number: 20

Atomic Weight: 40.078(4)

Isotopes and Abundances: 40Ca, 96.941(156)%; 42Ca, 0.647(23)%; 43Ca, 0.135(10)%; 44Ca, 2.086(110)%; 48Ca, 0.187(21)%

1 Atm Melting Point: 840 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: 1,484 °C

Common Valences: +2

Ionic Radii: 6-fold: 114 pm

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.00

First Ionization Potential: 589.83 kJ.mol−1

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 9,110 ppm (59,820 atoms/106 Si)

Silicate Earth Abundance: 25,300 ppm

Crustal Abundance: 41,500 ppm

Seawater Abundance: 412 to 420 ppm

Core Abundance: ~0

Properties

Calcium is a metal (alkaline earth) with a silvery color and a cubic crystal structure. This element belongs to group 2 and period 4 of the periodic table (Fig. 1). Calcium has 25 known isotopes of which 5 are stable (source of data: National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://www.nist.gov/pml/data/comp.cfm).

Calcium, Fig. 1
figure 34 figure 34

Schematic illustration of the atomic configuration of 40Ca

Full size image

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 699.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alt JC, Teagle DA (1999) The uptake of carbon during alteration of ocean crust. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:1527–1535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alt JC, Honnorez J, Laverne C, Emmermann R (1986) Hydrothermal alteration of a 1 km section through the upper oceanic crust, Deep Sea Drilling Project Hole 504B: mineralogy, chemistry and evolution of seawater-basalt interactions. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 91:10309–10335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson JJ, Klemmer PJ (2013) Risk of high dietary calcium for arterial calcification in older adults. Forum Nutr 5:3964–3974

    Google Scholar 

  • Bednarz U, Schmincke HU (1989) Mass transfer during sub-seafloor alteration of the upper Troodos crust (Cyprus). Contrib Mineral Petrol 102:93–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouvier A, Wadhwa M (2010) The age of the Solar System redefined by the oldest Pb–Pb age of a meteoritic inclusion. Nat Geosci 3:637–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruland KW, Middag R, Lohan MC (2014) 8.2 – controls of trace metals in seawater A2 – Holland, Heinrich D. In: Turekian KK (ed) Treatise on geochemistry, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 19–51

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Caro G, Papanastassiou DA, Wasserburg GJ (2010) 40K-40Ca isotopic constraints on the oceanic calcium cycle. Earth Planet Sci Lett 296:124–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coursey JS, Schwab DJ, Tsai JJ, Dragoset RA (2010) Atomic weights and isotopic compositions. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Davy H (1808) The Bakerian lecture: on some new phenomena of chemical changes produced by electricity, particularly the decomposition of the fixed alkalies, and the exhibition of the new substances which constitute their bases; and on the general nature of alkaline bodies. Phil Trans R Soc London 98:1–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Villiers S (1998) Excess dissolved Ca in the deep ocean: a hydrothermal hypothesis. Earth Planet Sci Lett 164:627–641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickin AP (2005) Radiogenic isotope geology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 492 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Domagalski JL, Eugster HP, Jones BF (1990) Trace metal geochemistry of Walker, Mono, and Great Salt Lakes. Fluid-Miner Interactions 2:315–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabry VJ, Seibel BA, Feely RA, Orr JC (2008) Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes. ICES J Mar Sci 65:414–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Findlay HS, Wood HL, Kendall MA, Spicer JI, Twitchett RJ, Widdicombe S (2009) Calcification, a physiological process to be considered in the context of the whole organism. Biogeosci Discuss 6:2267–2284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gale A, Dalton CA, Langmuir CH, Su Y, Schilling J-G (2013) The mean composition of ocean ridge basalts. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 14(3):489–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldschmidt VM (1926) Geochemische Verteilungsgesetze der Elemente. VII: Die Gesetze der Krystallochemie. Skrifter Norske Videnskaps Akad, Oslo, (I) Mat. Natur. K1, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  • Gothmann AM, Stolarski J, Adkins JF, Schoene B, Dennis KJ, Schrag DP, Mazur M, Bender ML (2015) Fossil corals as an archive of secular variations in seawater chemistry since the Mesozoic. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 160:188–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graustein WC, Cromack K, Sollins P (1977) Calcium oxalate: occurrence in soils and effect on nutrient and geochemical cycles. Science 198:1252–1254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haynes WM (2015) CRC handbook of chemistry and physics, 95th edn. CRC Press & Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Langer MR, Silk MT, Lipps JH (1997) Global Ocean carbonate and carbon dioxide production; the role of reef Foraminifera. J Foram Res 27:271–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch M, Trotter J, Montagna P, Falter J, Dumbar R, Freiwald A, Försterra G, López Correa M, Maier C, Rüggeberg A, Taviani M (2012) Resilience of cold-water scleractinian corals to ocean acidification: boron isotopic systematics of pH and saturation state up-regulation. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 87:21–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller MN, Barcelos e Ramos J, Schulz KG, Riebesell U, Kazmierczak J, Gallo F, Mackinder L, Li Y, Nesterenko PN, Trull TW, Hallegraeff GM (2015) Phytoplankton calcification as an effective mechanism to prevent cellular calcium poisoning. Biogeosci Discuss 12:6493–6501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palme H, O’Neill HSC (2014) 3.1 – Cosmochemical estimates of mantle composition. In: Turekian HDHK (ed) Treatise on geochemistry, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 1–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Palme H, Lodders K, Jones A (2014) 2.2 – solar system abundances of the elements A2. In: Holland HD, Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 15–36

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rudnick RL, Gao S (2005) Composition of the continental crust. In: Rudnick RL (ed) Treatise on geochemistry, The crust, vol 3. Elsevier-Pergamon, Oxford, pp 1–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SR, McLennan SM (1985) The continental crust: its composition and evolution. An examination of the geochemical record preserved in sedimentary rocks. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. 312 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Wedepohl KH (1995) The composition of the continental crust. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 59:1217–1232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White WM, Klein EM (2014) 4.13 – composition of the oceanic crust. In: Holland HD, Turekian KK (eds) Treatise on geochemistry, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 457–496

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, LGL-TPE, CNRS UMR 5276, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Institut Universitaire de France, Lyon, France

    Christophe Lécuyer

Authors
  1. Christophe Lécuyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christophe Lécuyer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    William M. White

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Lécuyer, C. (2018). Calcium. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_254

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation