Elemental Composition of Lunar Crust

(and Earth Crust)

various sources, not especially accurate

The Lunar abundances roughly track Earth abundance. However, in many cases elements on Earth are concentrated by water chemistry, plate tectonics, the oxygen in the atmosphere, and weathering, over billions of years. In some cases, lunar element extraction will need mass spectrographic separation from undifferentiated rock, rather than ore location and refining. Bad news for some of the rarer materials.

Beneficiated ore deposits are easy to find on the moon, you look for them under palm trees. :-(

(Semi Use == Valence. Typical semiconductor materials are 4 elements, or 3/5, 2/6 compounds)


element

Lunar
Highlands

Lunar
Lowlands

Earth
Average

Semi
Use

Oxygen

446000

417000

466000

+

Silicon

210000

212000

277000

4

Aluminum

133000

69700

81300

3

Iron

48700

132000

50000

Calcium

106800

78800

36300

Sodium

3100

2900

28300

Potassium

800

1100

25900

Magnesium

45500

57600

20900

Titanium

3100

31000

4400

Hydrogen

56

54

1400

Phosphorus

500

660

1050

5

Manganese

675

1700

950

Fluorine

-

-

950

Boron

-

-

950

3

Barium

-

-

500

Strontium

-

-

370

Sulfur

-

-

350

6

Carbon

100

100

200

4

Zirconium

-

-

190

Tungsten

-

-

160

+

Vanadium

-

-

160

Chlorine

17

26

130

Chromium

850

2600

100

Rubidium

-

-

90

Nickel

-

-

80

Zinc

-

-

75

2

Cerium

-

-

68

Copper

-

-

50

+

Neodymium

-

-

38

Lanthanum

-

-

32

Yttrium

-

-

30

Nitrogen

-

-

25

5

Cobalt

-

-

20

Lithium

-

-

20

+

Niobium

-

-

20

Gallium

-

-

18

3

Scandium

-

-

16

Lead

-

-

14

Thorium

-

-

12

Praseodymium

-

-

9.5

Samarium

-

-

7.9

Gadolinium

-

-

7.7

Dysprosium

-

-

6.0

Hafnium

-

-

5.3

-

Erbium

-

-

3.8

Ytterbium

-

-

3.3

Caesium

-

-

3.0

Uranium

-

-

2.7

Beryllium

-

-

2.6

Tin

-

-

2.2

-

Europium

-

-

2.1

Tantalum

-

-

2.0

Germanium

-

-

1.8

4

Molybdenum

-

-

1.5

Arsenic

-

-

1.5

5

Holmium

-

-

1.4

Terbium

-

-

1.1

Thallium

-

-

0.6

3

Thulium

-

-

0.5

Bromine

-

-

0.4

Antimony

-

-

0.2

5

Iodine

-

-

0.14

Cadmium

-

-

0.11

2

Silver

-

-

0.07

Mercury

-

-

0.05

2

Selenium

-

-

0.05

6

Indium

-

-

0.05

3

Bismuth

-

-

0.05

6

Tellurium

-

-

0.005

5

Gold

-

-

0.001

Platinum

-

-

0.001

moonrocks (last edited 2015-02-16 22:24:11 by KeithLofstrom)