Abundance of Elements in Seawater – Periodic Table and List

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Earth’s oceans cover 71% of the surface of the planet. Even a casual inspection will tell you there is more to seawater than just water. You would expect the two most common elements to be water itself, hydrogen and oxygen. What else is found in Earth’s oceans? These tables answer this question.

This printable periodic table contains the abundance of elements in seawater.

Seawater Element Abundance

Each element is represented by its atomic number, symbol, name, and abundance in milligrams per liter of seawater. A PDF of this table is available for easy printing.

The colors represent a break in the ranges over three orders of magnitude. Elements with no measured values or no data are left blank. The abundances recorded are a median of measurements taken from around the world. Elements with trace amounts can vary across measurements by several orders of magnitude.

Table of the Abundance of Elements in Earth’s Oceans

This table contains the same data arranged in a simple format and arranged by abundance.

 Number ElementAbundance (mg/L)
8Oxygen8.57 x 105
1Hydrogen1.08 x 105
17Chlorine1.94 x 104
11Sodium1.08 x 104
12Magnesium1.29 x 103
16Sulfur905
20Calcium412
19Potassium399
35Bromine67.3
6Carbon28
38Strontium7.9
5Boron4.44
14Silicon2.2
9Fluorine1.3
7Nitrogen0.5
18Argon0.45
3Lithium0.18
37Rubidium0.12
15Phosphorus6 x 10-2
53Iodine6 x 10-2
49Indium2 x 10-2
56Barium1.3 x 10-2
42Molybdenum1 x 10-2
30Zinc4.9 x 10-3
33Arsenic3.7 x 10-3
92Uranium3.2 x 10-3
23Vanadium2.5 x 10-3
13Aluminum2 x 10-3
26Iron2 x 10-3
22Titanium1 x 10-3
28Nickel5.6 x 10-4
24Chromium3 x 10-4
55Cesium3 x 10-4
29Copper2.5 x 10-4
51Antimony2.4 x 10-4
36Krypton2.1 x 10-4
25Manganese2 x 10-4
34Selenium2 x 10-4
10Neon1.2 x 10-4
48Cadmium1.1 x 10-4
74Tungsten1 x 10-4
32Germanium5 x 10-5
54Xenon5 x 10-5
47Silver4 x 10-5
31Gallium3 x 10-5
40Zirconium3 x 10-5
80Mercury3 x 10-5
82Lead3 x 10-5
27Cobalt2 x 10-5
83Bismuth2 x 10-5
81Thallium1.9 x 10-5
39Yttrium1.3 x 10-5
41Niobium1 x 10-5
2Helium7 x 10-6
72Hafnium7 x 10-6
4Beryllium5.6 x 10-6
50Tin4 x 10-6
75Rhenium4 x 10-6
79Gold4 x 10-6
57Lanthanum3.4 x 10-6
60Neodymium2.8 x 10-6
73Tantalum2 x 10-6
58Cerium1.2 x 10-6
90Thorium1 x 10-6
66Dysprosium9.1 x 10-7
68Erbium8.7 x 10-7
70Ytterbium8.2 x 10-7
44Ruthenium7 x 10-7
64Gadolinium7 x 10-7
59Praseodymium6.4 x 10-7
21Scandium6 x 10-7
62Samarium4.5 x 10-7
67Holmium2.2 x 10-7
69Thulium1.7 x 10-7
71Lutetium1.5 x 10-7
65Terbium1.4 x 10-7
63Europium1.3 x 10-7
88Radium8.9 x 10-11
91Protactinium5 x 10-11
84Polonium1.5 x 10-14
86Radon6 x 10-16
43TechnetiumNo Data
45RhodiumNo Data
46PalladiumNo Data
52TelluriumNo Data
61PromethiumNo Data
76OsmiumNo Data
77IridiumNo Data
78PlatinumNo Data
85AstatineNo Data
87FranciumNo Data
89ActiniumNo Data
93NeptuniumNo Data
94PlutoniumNo Data
95AmericiumNo Data
96CuriumNo Data
97BerkeliumNo Data
98CaliforniumNo Data
99EinsteiniumNo Data
100FermiumNo Data
101MendeleviumNo Data
102NobeliumNo Data
103LawrenciumNo Data
104RutherfordiumNo Data
105DubniumNo Data
106SeaborgiumNo Data
107BohriumNo Data
108HassiumNo Data
109MeitneriumNo Data
110DarmstadtiumNo Data
111RoentgeniumNo Data
112CoperniumNo Data
113NihoniumNo Data
114FleroviumNo Data
115MoscoviumNo Data
116LivermoriumNo Data
117TennessineNo Data
118OganessonNo Data

Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 89th Edition