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How abundant is oxygen in Earth’s crust?
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oxygen group element
Modern version of the periodic table of the elements (printable).
Oxygen is the most abundant element in Earth’s crust, accounting for approximately 46 percent of its mass.12
When considering atomic percentages, oxygen's dominance is even more pronounced, representing about 62.2 percent of the crust. This high abundance reflects the fact that the crust is composed almost entirely of oxygen compounds, primarily silicates and aluminosilicates of iron, calcium, magnesium, and alkali metals. Due to this prevalence, the lithosphere is sometimes referred to as the "oxysphere".2