The Cambridge Handbook of Earth Science Data This handbook presents an indispensable compilation of fundamental facts and figures about the Earth. It brings together reliable physical, chemical, biological and historical data in a series of 145 easy-to-read tables, supplemented by maps, charts and colour plates. Eleven chapters cover topics spanning the Earth’s geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, with one chapter focusing on other bodies in the Solar System. Full references for the original data sources are provided to enable users to access further detail and, where relevant, contentious or alternative data are indicated in supplementary notes. The appendix provides practical information on units and conversion factors. Compact and easy to use, this handy book provides a time-saving first point of reference for researchers, students and practitioners in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. It allows scientists easy access to basic information on topics outside their specialisation, and is also a convenient resource for non-scientists such as economists, policy makers and journalists. Paul Henderson is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London and was previously Head of the Department of Mineralogy and Director of Science at the Natural History Museum. He was President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1990–1992) and Vice President of the Geological Society of London (2002–2008). Professor Henderson’s research interests focus on the geochemistry of igneous and related rocks, and he is the author of the textbook Inorganic Geochemistry (1982) and the editor of Rare Earth Element Geochemistry (1984). Gideon Henderson is Professor of Earth Sciences at Oxford University and was previously an Associate Research Scientist at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York. His research interests involve the application of geochemical tools to understand the Earth’s surface environment including climate change, past ocean circulation and geochemical fluxes from land to sea. Professor Henderson is also an editor of Uranium-Series Geochemistry (2003). The Cambridge Handbook of Earth Science Data Paul Henderson Earth Sciences, University College London, and Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, London Gideon M. Henderson Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford and University College, Oxford CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521693172 © P. Henderson and G. M. Henderson 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2009 ISBN-13 978-0-511-58092-5 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-69317-2 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements viii 1 The Solar System 1 2 Solid Earth 33 3 Geophysics 64 4 Aqueous Earth 87 5 Gaseous Earth 112 6 Biological Earth: element cycles 123 7 Earth history 135 8 Chemistry and isotopes 179 9 Crystallography and mineralogy 220 10 Resources 239 11 Hazards 252 Appendix: SI Units, conversion factors and physical constants 265 Index 271 Colour plates to be found between pages 152 and 153. v Preface This book aims to be an accessible and convenient source for basic data in the Earth Sciences. It is not only for use by students but also for instructors, researchers and other professional geoscientists who want rapid access to core information across some of the many areas – biological to cosmological – that comprise the Earth Sciences today. It is not intended as an in-depth research tool within any one topic but more of a starting-off point and it should be seen as complementary to other sources such as course textbooks. The scope and design of the book are as close to a pocket book as they reasonably can be, so as to enable use of the book in many circumstances – the teaching laboratory, the conference or lecture hall, the study room, while travelling and even perhaps in the field. SI units are used for the most part but on occasion other units that still tend to be in common use are quoted (conversions can be found in the Appendix). The selection of material has been made in order to fulfil the aims while at the same time keeping the size within reasonable bounds. There is an emphasis on ‘natural’ processes rather than anthropogenic influences; error analysis is not generally covered, and numerical data are given precedence over diagrammatic representation. Information on data sources is provided to help the user pursue a topic further. Inevitably such a selection will be something of an experiment, so we look forward to suggestions from users on how it might be changed and improved should, at a later date, another edition be considered. We also welcome our attention being drawn to any errors that may have crept in despite our attempts to avoid them. I have compiled most of the contents, with Gideon focusing on Chapters 4 (Aqueous Earth) and 5 (Gaseous Earth) together with his overview of the isotopic tables of Chapter 8 as well as contributing diagrams with isotopic data in Chapter 7 (Earth history). We very much hope that users of this book will find their need for a one-stop and straightforward data source satisfied – a need we felt and which prompted us to produce this book. Paul Henderson University College London vii Acknowledgements We thank the following people who kindly made suggestions, comments or reviews of parts of this book: Tim Atkinson, Paul Bown, John Brodholt, Michel Guiraud, Adrian Jones, Paul Kenrick, Conall MacNiocaill, John McArthur, David Manning, Bill McGuire, David Price, Phil Rainbow, Peter Rawson, Stuart Robinson, Nick Rogers, Sara Russell, Peter Sammonds, Andy Saunders, Chris Stringer, Claudio Vita-Finzi, Sarah Watkinson and Ian Wood. We also thank Susan Francis of Cambridge University Press for her help in guiding the production of this book. viii 1 The Solar System 1 Solar System and planets 1.1 Solar System – elemental abundances 2 1.2 Sun – physical properties 5 1.3 Cosmic gas condensation sequence 5 1.4 The Solar System 6 1.5 Planets – physical properties in relation to Earth 8 1.6 Planetary atmospheres: constituents 9 1.7 Composition of Mercury, Venus and Mars 10 1.8 Selected satellite names and properties 11 1.9 Earth’s orbital variations 14 Moon 1.10a The Moon – physical properties 15 1.10b The Moon – internal structure 16 1.11 The Moon – bulk chemical composition 17 1.12 Lunar stratigraphy 18 1.13 Composition of lunar rock types – selected examples 19 Meteorites 1.14 Meteorite classification and numbers 22 1.15a Meteorite compositions: C1 chondrites 24 1.15b Meteorite compositions: carbonaceous chondrites (selected elements) 26 1.15c Meteorite compositions: ordinary and enstatite chondrites 28 1.15d Meteorite compositions: irons 30 1.16 Chondrite normalising data: rare-earth elements 32 Figure 1.1 Oxygen isotope ratio plot for chondrite meteorites 29 1 earth science data Table 1.1 Solar System – elemental abundances Element Log abundance Atoms per 6 1 [H] = 12 10 Si atoms 1 H 12 2.431 × 1010 2 He 10.984 2.343 × 109 3 Li 3.35 55.47 4 Be 1.48 0.7374 5 B 2.85 17.32 6 C 8.46 7.079 × 106 7 N 7.90 1.950 × 106 8 O 8.76 1.413 × 107 9 F 4.53 841.1 10 Ne 7.95 2.148 ×106 11 Na 6.37 5.751 × 104 12 Mg 7.62 1.020 × 106 13 Al 6.54 8.410 × 104 14 Si 7.61 1 × 106 15 P 5.54 8.373 × 103 16 S 7.26 4.449 × 105 17 Cl 5.33 5.237 × 103 18 Ar 6.62 1.025 × 105 19 K 5.18 3.692 × 103 20 Ca 6.41 6.287 × 104 21 Sc 3.15 34.20 22 Ti 5.00 2.422 × 103 23 V 4.07 288.4 24 Cr 5.72 1.286 × 104 25 Mn 5.58 9.168 × 103 26 Fe 7.54 8.380 × 105 27 Co 4.98 2.323 × 103 28 Ni 6.29 4.780 × 104 29 Cu 4.34 527.0 30 Zn 4.70 1.226 × 103 31 Ga 3.17 35.97 32 Ge 3.70 120.6 2 the solar system Table 1.1 (cont.) Element Log abundance Atoms per [H] = 12 106 Si atoms 1 33 As 2.40 6.089 34 Se 3.43 65.79 35 Br 2.67 11.32 36 Kr 3.36 55.15 37 Rb 2.43 6.572 38 Sr 2.99 23.64 39 Y 2.28 4.608 40 Zr 2.67 11.33 41 Nb 1.49 0.755 4 42 Mo 2.03 2.601 44 Ru 1.89 1.900 45 Rh 1.18 0.370 8 46 Pd 1.77 1.435 47 Ag 1.30 0.491 3 48 Cd 1.81 1.584 49 In 0.87 0.181 0 50 Sn 2.19 3.733 51 Sb 1.14 0.329 2 52 Te 2.30 4.815 53 I 1.61 0.997 5 54 Xe 2.35 5.391 55 Cs 1.18 0.367 1 56 Ba 2.25 4.351 57 La 1.25 0.440 5 58 Ce 1.68 1.169 59 Pr 0.85 0.173 7 60 Nd 1.54 0.835 5 62 Sm 1.02 0.254 2 63 Eu 0.60 0.095 13 64 Gd 1.13 0.332 1 (cont.) 3 earth science data Table 1.1 (cont.) Element Log abundance Atoms per 6 1 [H] = 12 10 Si atoms 65 Tb 0.38 0.059 07 66 Dy 1.21 0.386 2 67 Ho 0.56 0.089 86 68 Er 1.02 0.255 4 69 Tm 0.18 0.037 00 70 Yb 1.01 0.248 4 71 Lu 0.16 0.035 72 72 Hf 0.84 0.169 9 73 Ta −0.06 0.020 99 74 W 0.72 0.127 7 75 Re 0.33 0.052 54 76 Os 1.44 0.673 8 77 Ir 1.42 0.644 8 78 Pt 1.75 1.357 79 Au 0.91 0.195 5 80 Hg 1.23 0.412 8 81 Tl 0.88 0.184 5 82 Pb 2.13 3.258 83 Bi 0.76 0.138 8 90 Th 0.16 0.035 12 91 U −0.42 0.009 306 Notes: Solar System abundances are based mainly on element abundances in CI chondrite meteorites and in Sun’s photosphere.